Unsung Hero
by curupira
Summary: The urge to be recognized among his peers had always been great, but when he honestly deserved to be known, but was still ignored, it became too much.
1. Disappearing act

**Title:** Unsung Hero

**Summary:** The urge to be recognized among his peers had always been great, but when he honestly deserved to be known, but was still ignored, it became too much.

**Rating:** T for later chapters, nothing bad for this one.

**Disclaimer:** I, as much as I'd like to, do not own National Treasure or anything related to it, being the characters, places or adventures therein. The movie is a right of Disney and I own nothing but the creativity that caused me to type all this jibberish out.

**Author's Note:** More chapters to come, if this one is well received. This means you need to READ AND REVIEW.

* * *

The sidekick, the co-finder, 'that guy'. Riley Poole never received the recognition he had set out for when he was with Ben Gates on their adventures. He was always the_other_ person, the one hardly ever thought of. When mentioned in a conversation, 'who' would generally be the next question out of someone's mouth. He knew he wasn't much in the face of history, even if he had helped significant amounts. He wasn't the person everyone wanted to see as a hero, the nerdy one never was and probably never would be.

But he was fed up with the thoughts now. It started with the Templar Treasure and had continued on even after the City of Gold. Sure, there were the occasional people who remembered who he was correctly, but in comparison to Ben and Abigail, and even Ben's parents, Riley had very little. Recognition wasn't really what he wanted most, but for people to realize he at least had _some_ part in it aside from just 'the sidekick' would have been nice, and he wasn't going to answer to anyone as that from now on.

There had been too many times he tried to save his best friend. From volunteering to be left behind when needed, to attempting to fight rushing water to get back to Ben when the stakes were higher than he felt comfortable with, he knew Ben never honestly realized the lengths Riley would go to just to ensure his safety. Ben had so much more to live for, anyway, what would it have mattered if Riley wasn't around?

And he was about to put that curiosity to the test.

* * *

"Have you heard anything from Riley in a while?" Abigail Chase skipped down the stares in hers and Ben Gates' mansion, happy to have her boyfriend back with her after realizing just how much she couldn't do without, "It seems like it's been a while since we've seen him around."

"Yeah, he's usually knocking on the door to steal our food, isn't he?" Ben chuckled, sitting at his desk in his office that was just off of the entrance the their home.

"Now now, be nice, Ben. Really, how long has it been since we've seen him?" Abigail walked up behind Ben and squeezed his shoulders, resting her chin on the top of his head, "It's wrong when he's not around so much."

"Do you want me to call him?"

"Could you?"

Ben shook his head in amusement as he searched around his papers for his ever missing cell phone, "I really need to clean this mess up. But I swear, you'd think he was the one dating you." That remark earned him a playful slap to the back of his head and a yelp of surprise was mixed in with a joyful holler as he recovered his mobile and punched '3' on the dial pad, 1 having been occupied by his parents and the second by Abigail.

"Invite him to dinner or something." Abi whispered and Ben waved his hand in a gesture of understanding.

And he would have done just that, except the phone wouldn't stop ringing. Riley, being the technical geek he was, wasn't one to ignore a phone call unless he was out driving, and his car had been in the shop for a while after the President returned it to him – he was smart, but he was clumsy.

"Come on, Poole." Ben muttered, raising concern in Abigail's mind.

She stood up with a deep breath, walking around to the nearest chair to pull it close next to where Ben was seated, "Something isn't right about this." Ben looked at her with a knowing and growing concern in his own eyes as the answering machine picked up.

_Hey, you've reached the phone of Riley Poole. I'd say leave a message, but you're not going to be able to find me here anymore. No one ever really needed me for much anyway. If you care enough, you may hear from me again. If not, it's been a great adventure and it was nice knowing you while it lasted._

Ben hardly waited for the beep to come along before he flew up out of his seat, grabbed his jacket and headed out the door. Abigail had no time to react, reaching for her own coat as she followed him quickly with more worry than ever before, "Ben, what's going on!?" She hurried to the car after him, following his lead as he got into the car.

"Something is very, very wrong here." He handed her his cell phone, "Call his phone."

She did as he said and waited for the message to finish, her eyes widening with every word. She had proven to be strong in the past, during their treasure hunts and the risks involved, but now she was scared, "What does he mean?" she looked over at Ben, who was shaking his head as if he hadn't a clue. Then something struck even more suspicion and paranoia from her as her mind repeated the last words from Riley's machine, "If not, it's been a great adventure..." and she gasped, "Ben, he was talking about us!"

* * *

It only took them minutes to get to Riley's house, having no intention of knocking as Ben pulled out the spare key his best friend had given him for emergency purposes. If this wasn't an emergency, he didn't know what was.

"Come on, Riley. Please don't do this." Within moments he was through the door, running into the living room with relief as everything looked to be in place there. But that was only the beginning of it and he headed up the stairs, beginning to scream, "RILEY. Where are you, Ri?" Through every room he looked, and every unanswered call brought on more and more fear, "Riley, if you don't answer me I swear I'm going to..." but Ben was cut off by a shout from Abigail from the bedroom, and the worst thoughts ran through Ben's mind, "Please God, no..."

"Ben, he's gone!" she was standing at Riley's closet door, shocked to see it completely empty, "Everything's gone..." her heart sank as she stepped back and sat on the bed, eyebrows raising as she heard something crumple underneath her.

"What's going on?" Ben ran into the room as she was pulling a piece of paper from under hear and studying it silently. He looked from her to the closet, feeling his stomach turn as he realized something major had driven his best friend away. When he turned back to Abigail, she was holding the piece of paper out to him and he took it with no hesitation.

_Ben, Abi or anyone else,_

_If you've made it this far then maybe you care, but it isn't enough. You've always cared, but I can't be a shadow to anyone anymore. The fun is gone, and I can't take it. I'm taking time away, for how long I don't know. I need to be in the place I know better than this, the place that feels the most like home to me. The place I was found. You can try finding me all you want, Ben, but I'll just repeat something you've heard a hundred times before..._

_This is just another clue._

Ben dropped the paper, knowing Riley had already planned to be followed from the beginning. Riley knew Ben cared enough for that, but what was the kid getting himself into was what Ben wanted to know.

After a blank stare and a shake of his head, he looked up at Abigail with defiance, "We have to find him."


	2. Ohio

**Rating:** T, again for later chapters. This one DOES, however, have a slight bit of swearing. Not really enough to count, though.

**Disclaimer:** Don't own it, yada yada.

**A/N:** I'm glad everyone enjoyed the first chapter! This one might not be so interesting, but I promise the plot will begin to pick up starting in the next chapter. Read and review, of course!

**Chapter 2: Ohio.**

Riley, if he had been around to see it all, probably wouldn't have bargained on how much trouble his absence caused. Not even ten minutes after Ben and Abigail searched their best friend's apartment and found the note, they were calling Agent Sadusky and trying their hardest to get a missing persons search going. They knew it was a futile attempt, Riley having made the choice himself and as far as they knew he hadn't been kidnapped.

"Dammit, Riley..." Ben had a split second of anger toward the younger man in his mind, but then realized he just couldn't do that. He felt awful for pushing Riley away, he just couldn't figure out why. With a sigh, he heaved out, "I'm sorry." just above a whisper, somehow hoping the words might magically reach Riley's ears.

* * *

It had only been 12 hours since he left and he was already wondering what might have been going on in the search for him – if there was a search even going on. He knew it would happen eventually, Ben would miss him and try to call, and soon enough he would end up finding the note, but he hadn't been certain just how soon that might be. It had been two weeks since he had even last seen Ben, so why would the older man think to look for Riley today? 

"Just another clue..." Riley muttered as he stepped up to the counter of a fast food restaurant – even when 'running away', as it were, he needed nourishment – and pulled out his debit card. Even without him there as Ben's computer geek, Riley knew the way the famous Gates would try to look for him. He wasn't at his destination yet, and this was the last place he intended to use his bank card so he couldn't be tracked, "Just..." he started repeating again as he swiped the card, knowing if Ben looked it would show up on Riley's bank records, "...another clue."

* * *

The night had come and gone and Ben had hardly slept at all, brainstorming on ways to figure out where it was Riley might have run off to. "The place he was found..." he had been repeating to himself countless times during the night, every once in a while eliciting murmurs of 'quiet' from Abigail, "He couldn't possibly mean where he was when Ian and I found him. That's here in town..." he sighed, almost giving in to defeat when the computer on the desk started beeping.

Ben, being the genius he at least_thought_ he was, had fallen right into Riley's little clue drop and, with the little help of books from Riley's home, managed to hack into his bank records to find out exactly where it was the young man was headed.

By this point Abigail was up and out of bed, bringing in a tray of food and coffee for her boyfriend to at least make sure he was healthy enough to search, "What's going on?" her voice was filled with the remainders of exhaustion after having tried to help Ben as much as she could the night before.

"He's in... Ohio?" Ben's eyebrows began to raise as he looked up at Abi, "I don't understand this." Running his fingers through his hair, he places his elbows on his knees and let out a heavy sigh, "What the hell is he doing in Ohio? And what on earth did we even do to drive him away!?" It had only taken moments for his mood to change from confusion to desperation. He needed his best friend back, more than he had ever imagined before.

Abigail quickly wrapped her arms around Ben from behind, "I don't know, sweetie. But at least he wants us to find him. He's smart, you know?" She kissed Ben on the cheek and pointed to the computer screen, "He knows what lengths we'll go to, so he had to have known we would find this."

Ben stared at the screen and nodded, a smile curling his lips, "Then I guess we're off to Ohio."

* * *

The were in the middle of packing when the phone rang, Ben hurriedly trying to find his mobile once again, but this time in the mess of his suitcase. The phone read Agent Sadusky and Ben became curious, "Hello?"

"Benjamin!" The Agent sounded less than pleased, "How's the search for the kid going?"

"He's not a kid, Sadusky." Ben, more than anything, wanted to give Riley more credit than that, "And it's not looking good, but he's leaving us clues. We're about to be going on a little road trip."

"Is that so? Well, let me know if there is any way I can help. But listen, Gates, be really careful out there."

Ben stayed silent a moment, wondering why such a warning would be given just for something like this, "Why the concern? We're not treasure hunting, we're person hunting." he mused.

There was a long enough pause to make both parties of the conversation uneasy, until Sadusky finally spoke up again, with words much to Ben's dismay, "Ian Howe has escaped."


	3. Howe?

**Rating: **T, blah blah, not this chapter, blah blah.

**Disclaimer: **DO NOT OWN.

**A/N: **Thank you for all the lovely reviews! Please keep them coming, it helps to get chapters along faster knowing that people are reading this story. I will give a warning, however. I know I'm getting chapters out quickly now, but that's only because I have 6 GLORIOUS days off from work at the moment. Once that picks back up, things are probably going to move a little slower. But for now, you have plenty of time to enjoy the speed of it! READ AND REVIEW!

* * *

The moment Ben heard the words come from Agent Sadusky he was packing faster, no longer worrying about folding clothes and rather just stuffing them in with no care for wrinkles in the slightest, "Well this is just one thing on top of another." he grumbled while Abigail continued her own stuffing technique; she had also heard the news.

"Do you think he's going to do anything?" the fear in her voice was more than evident.

"I don't know, Abi. There's no telling with him. We put him away for three years already, I'm sure he's going to want some sort of revenge right now in case he gets caught again. Knowing him he'd just be satisfied with the knowledge he's harmed us in some way."

"So, it's good that we're getting out of here then, right? I mean, if he's coming after you and me, this is the place he'd go first to try and get to us fastest and hurt us the most, right?"

"I'm not... sure." he stood upright after finally finishing with his things, something about her words striking a long thought process in his mind. _'If he really wanted to hurt us the most he'd go after something that meant a lot to us...'_ he was thinking to himself, reaching over to grab Abigail's hand as the words went through his mind, _'He'd really just want to get to me, and he'd have to know I'll know he's out so I'll be protecting her...'_...

"Ben?" Abigail leaned down in an attempt to search her boyfriend's eyes, concerned by the look on his face. She could tell he was thinking heavily about something, but his expression lent no comfort to her in their situation.

"This... is..." the thoughts were concluding now, and Ben was immediately back to his rushing ways as he grabbed both his and Abi's packs and headed toward the car, "...very bad. Come on, we have to go NOW." Even if there was no treasure involved, he knew he was about to be on the adventure of a lifetime.

"Ben, what's the rush? I don't think this'll really move anything along faster." Abi just didn't understand.

"This isn't where Ian would look to hurt us... me, the most. He knows I'm not letting you out of my sight. But he also knows there's someone else he can get to with little trouble to hurt me just the same." And with those final few words he made eye contact with her, his eyes saying everything she needed to see.

"Oh, god..." she breathed out with full concern flowing through every part of her, "He's going to go after Riley."

* * *

Ian Howe took in a deep breath of air, grinning with little worry as to who might see him around as he walked up to a tall gentleman with buzzed brown hair standing beside a van, "Why hello there, sir!" his voice was almost sing-song as he shook the man's hand, "Would you happen to be going my way?" the sarcasm filled the air as both men stepped into the back of the van, which was filled with computers.

"He's been going all over the place, sir." the unnamed fellow pointed to several different computer monitors as he spoke, "I'm not sure what he's up to, but I don't believe he has a clue."

This only made Ian happier as he surveyed the monitors, watching a young Riley Poole leave from his house the day before and drive the entire way to Ohio without any sleep, "He's going to need sleep soon, yeah?" with an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips, Ian nodded to the other man and they both jumped into the front seat, more than ready to start on their way.

"I don't get why he'd be running off now when he has no idea about us." The other man was in the driver's seat, already starting the vehicle.

"That's something to worry about and figure out later." Ian waved his hand haphazardly in the air, in a gesture that he didn't care _why_, he just wanted the_ who_ that the curiosity was attached to. He turned to the buzzed headed man then with a grin, "I have to say, you've been a great help to me in these past few months."

"I'm just doing whatever I can, sir. I want the same thing as you."

"It's good to have you back, Shaw."

* * *

"Ohio." Riley had just parked his rental car as he spoke the word, smirking at the thought of the last clue he had left Ben and Abigail, "I'm a genius." He was beginning to feel more and more like himself, thought it would never be the same without Ben there, he was glad to have some familiarity in his moods. Doom and gloom just wasn't his thing.

He walked across the parking lot – and what a long parking lot it was – to get to the hotel he had decided was decent to stay in for the night. He had the money, he withdrew it from his bank just before deciding to stop spending his debit card, so he was pretty much set for anything he might need on the way to his destination.

"I need a room for the night." He smiled at the woman behind the counter, trying not to focus on how she looked, because the last thing he needed was to start falling for a girl in a town outside of Cincinnati. After all the arrangements were made he ran up to his room to get some rest, but not without checking on a few things first.

"Ben's not dumb..." Riley sighed as he went to check his e-mail, spotting one of the subjects that read 'What in the world are you getting yourself into?', the sender being Ben himself.

_Riley,_

_I don't know what's going on, and I'm not going to ask why's right now, I just want you to be safe out there. By now I'm sure you know we're coming to find you, and maybe warning you isn't the best way to go about this, but I'm really worried about you. Is it something we've done? Please get in contact with us, we need you back here. We'll be leaving soon to follow you God knows where and we're not stopping until you get to you, do you understand me? Don't think you can get away that easily._

_Ben_

_PS Abigail says hello and dress accordingly. You have her worried sick._

Riley wasn't dumb either, he knew Abigail would be worried, but maybe worried 'sick' was stretching it a little far. He was losing faith in Ben, though. If he had to ask if it was something they had done to drive Riley away, he obviously didn't understand as well as Riley would have liked him to. He couldn't worry about that then, though. The time on the e-mail had been hours before, so surely they were on their way at that point.

"Now let's see what they decided to sing into here." he pulled out his cell phone and clicked to get to voice mail, shaking his head at the underlying fact that he was leading his friends on what could be seen as a wild goose chase, "Chase, hah." that word only made him think of Abi now.

_You have – 3 unheard messages._

That little voice mail lady was always annoying. Riley clicked '1' to hear them.

_First unheard message:_

_Riley, it's Ben. I don't know what you're up to... or why you're in Ohio... but we're coming to get you. I've already sent an e-mail, this was just a second try because even if you say you can't be reached here, I know you'll be liste..._

He didn't give it a chance to finish, uncomfortable with how well Ben actually did know him. He simply pushed the button to delete that particular message and went on to the next.

_Next unheard message:_

_Riley, this is Agent Sadusky. You have your friends a little worried, I thought I might just give this a try. Don't be too stupid out there, I know you can take care of yourself. Ben might not see it, but I've heard stories. You're a good kid. Just take care._

"I'm not a kid." Riley wasn't pleased with the nickname everyone seemed so fond of using on him, but he was glad someone seemed to understand – how could Secret Agent Man POSSIBLY understand better than Ben when he wasn't even there? It just proved to Riley how thick headed his best friend really was. He sighed and went on to the final message.

_Last unheard message:_

_Riley, it's Ben again..._

Immediately Riley could tell something was different – Ben's tone of voice was much more hurried and concerned, and this sounded alarms in Riley's mind.

_Something is very wrong, I need you to get to the safest place you can find. Riley, Ian has escaped. We've done the math here already, and we're trying to get to you as fast as we can, but he's not after either of us. You HAVE to stay safe, Riley. Keep moving, find some little bed and breakfast inn or something, I don't know. Just don't let them get to you. Please, Riley. I think I'm starting to understand why you left, but that's not important now. Protect yourself._

Riley had barely been able to listen to the message all the way through, eyes widening the moment he heard what had Ben so worked up even over a message. Within moments Riley was packing his things back up and headed out the door – maybe this getaway was going to be a little faster than he anticipated.

"I'm checking out." it had only been an hour since he was last back at the front counter of the hotel.

The girl looked at him strangely, recognizing him from not long before, "You can't get your money back."

"I don't care, just... the room is free." He started walking away toward the door, but doubled back when a frightening thought came to mind, "And hey, listen... don't tell anyone I was here. If anyone asks for Riley Poole, say you've never heard of me."

This rose suspicion in the girls mind, but she simply nodded and watched as Riley ran out the door it seemed he had only just come in.

As he got back into his car and put his head in his hands, he came to a decision, "Well, there goes sleeping." he sighed and started on his way again.

He was going to need a lot of coffee.


	4. Should've Gotten Insurance

**Rating:** I'm giving it by chapters this time. I'd say K+ for the swearing, but nothing terribly exciting besides that.

**Disclaimer:** Just, no.

**A/N:** This chapter sucks, but I had to do it to get it moving someplace. I swear it'll get better... at some point. I just read an amazing story on here so my faith in myself is a TINY bit down! But I hope everyone enjoys.

* * *

Two huge cups of coffee? Check. Sleepless? Check. Speeding? Check. Car that seems to be staying closer than comfort with no intention of moving? Shit.

Maybe it was just the paranoia setting in, but Riley had no desire in the least to deal with Ian in that moment. He was aiming to get away, not run away and find more trouble than he would have had had he stayed in town with Ben and Abigail. He didn't want to admit it, but he was almost starting to miss them. Maybe it was only because they'd be better able to help him out of the situation, but with that though his chest rose proudly and he reminded himself that was the exact reason he was out here on his own. He could manage to live without those two.

Hell, if they wanted clues to where he might've been going, he'd given them everything he had planned. Ben was resourceful, if he only knew what to go on and where to look. Riley counted on that taking a while.

Now if he could just make it to his destination without getting killed he be in great shape.

* * *

"We have to figure out where he's headed before we can figure out how we're going to get to him, Abi." Ben wanted so badly to be able to just speed the entire way to wherever Riley was, but if he didn't know _where_ that was then he'd have some issues in the task, "We just... have to figure out what his note meant."

"Where he was found?" Abigail questioned, receiving a nod from Ben in a silent answer, "...we should probably call Sadusky for that help he offered."

* * *

It would have been a great plan, had Ian not been three steps ahead of everyone. From the moment the idea was hatched while he was still behind bars, he had been keeping tabs on Riley. There was very little he didn't know, as far as where the young treasure hunter might have been headed, so he was prepared for anything. And after watching as one of his lackeys followed Riley from the hotel, Ian was more than confident about the fact that he knew where Poole was going.

"This is going to be easier than I thought." he was grinning as he watched the computer screen that was showing a video feed from his lackey's car. They were right behind Riley, so Ian pulled out his cell phone to get in contact with them, "Get him, any way you have to. Just make sure he stays alive."

* * *

"Ohhh, crap." The car was beginning to come around Riley now, and he could tell something wasn't right about it. He was already speeding, so for this car to get around him they'd have to have been going at least twenty over the speed limit, and no one was that stupid – unless they had an agenda. And this car, whoever it happened to be, clearly did.

Riley's rental car jolted and nearly slid off the road as the slightly larger (a small SUV) vehicle bumped into him, "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit..." When did he start swearing so much? He shook the wonder out of his head as his mind started reeling with ways out of this, coming up with very little that might have done him any good at all.

Another hit from the SUV and Riley was slamming on his breaks to get behind them. He knew if another hit was taken there was no way he'd be able to keep control of the car. With a deep inhale, he came to a decision, something he knew he'd probably regret later but if it saved his life now he didn't much care, "Should have paid that little extra for the insurance." Shaking his head and telling himself he just had to go ahead and do it, he started speeding up again.

His only aim was to get the nose of his car to contact with the corner of theirs. He'd seen it done on television? That had to be good enough. But then he just had to laugh at himself, "This is suicide." but he didn't care. He couldn't get caught, not by Ian, and definitely not without his friends nearby to get him out of such an event. He could take care of himself as long as he wasn't being held captive by anyone, he knew that much. But if they managed to get to him, that would have been the end of it.

With one more deep breath and the realization that it was now or never to make the attempt, he checked for any other cars – none. Thank God no one really traveled much on that road that late at night. He turned hard on the steering wheel and hit the back corner of the SUV's bumper, sending it swerving and getting his hopes up just a little too high. First time, not the charm.

He slowed down with the intention of trying it again, the thought that he didn't know what the hell he was doing so it probably wasn't going to work in the first place. At least he had probably managed to scare them? And then he heard it, the loud pop of the one thing he had feared the most.

They were shooting at him.

* * *

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" Ian screamed into the phone at the man driving the SUV Riley had only seconds before been trying to knock off the road, "I said ALIVE you imbecile, THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO ACCOMPLISH THAT." He watched for a few moments longer, switching the camera view to one that was attached to the back of the car, "Don't go blowing up the engine or anything. Aim for the tires."

It would help if the man had been watching the road. There was only one of them in the car Ian had sent after Riley, thinking that would have been enough when he stopped in a hotel for the night – but he hadn't stayed long enough, and Ian knew why. Riley was suspicious, so this task was going to be harder, but if the man who was already with Riley now did things the right way everything would have gone fine. The one thing he didn't take into account, though, was that driving and shooting behind you was no simple task.

Howe watched in awe and amazement (in the worst sort of way) as there was a loud sort of crunching noise and a scream from the unnamed driver of the SUV, and suddenly everything stopped aside from Riley's car zooming out of view of the camera, "Oh bloody hell!" Ian started switching views of the camera, becoming more and more infuriated as he realized what went on as he realized he was seeing everything upside down and the driver had crashed, "Speed up, Shaw. We can't let Gates get to Poole before us."


	5. Deception

**Rating: **K. There's pretty much nothing bad in this chapter.

**Dislcaimer: **Don't own nothin'. Yee-haw.

**A/N: ** Thank you for all the reviews, they've been helping! I'm trying to get these out as fast as I can, I love writing this story, but of course, now that the craziness of family visiting is over I think one of my nieces got me sick with something. Nothing major, I just might be a little slower. And the NEXT CHAPTER WILL PICK UP THE PACE, a HUGE amount, I promise. Keep reviewing, though! The more people I know that like the story, the more encouraged I am to keep writing.

* * *

Ben, in those moments after Agent Sadusky had contacted him again with just the information he needed, was very grateful for his detective friend and the abilities he had to look up such things. He did feel a tiny bit dirty, looking into his best friend's past without any consent, but it was an emergency of the most extreme kind and there was little to be done about it now, as he had every possibly needed file sitting in front of him on his computer. It was amazing the things that could be accessed through technology these days.

"Okay, the place he was found. What do you think that could mean?" Ben looked up at Abigail, who had taken the driver's seat long ago when Ben became too worried to focus on the road.

"Where did he go to college?" she wondered aloud, thinking that would possibly help them in their tracking.

Ben gestured with a small nod, acknowledging that it was a decent idea to look up, anyway. With a few clicks and a search he found what he was looking for and sighed, "Back in DC. Nice thought, though." Abigail had been giving her all in comforting Ben, but he was starting to feel more and more terrible for what he'd done. If only he had been able to realize it sooner, maybe they wouldn't have been having this problem in the first place.

"He's going to be alright, Ben." she could tell by the look in his eyes, the blank expression he was giving, that he had drifted off into his own regretful thoughts and she didn't want to lose him to that. He needed to stay focused.

He shook the dazed feeling out of his head and, with another nod, continued clicking on his laptop, "Any other ideas here?" He looked over at her briefly, smirking at the fact that she was obviously already thinking about it.

"Do we..." she started a question, pondering it a little further before following the idea through. It could have been a long shot, but she had nothing more to go on, "What do we know about his parents? Where he grew up?"

Ben's eyes lit up at the words and he made a joyful noise, one he hadn't even known was possible coming from him, and started typing and clicking away once more, "That's brilliant, Abigail." It was more than worth a shot, it made the most sense. Why wasn't he able to think of these things? He was a smart man, his mind was just stuck on running Riley off.

_Why couldn't I have been there for him more? After how much he's done for me... I should have noticed sooner._ He and Abigail had already had the discussion after calling Agent Sadusky that Riley had done a lot for Ben, for both of them, to be there for them and protect them in their last two adventures... and they'd done nothing to show their gratefulness besides get most of the fame.

_He was going to leave himself behind on that tilting top... going to risk his life for my dream. And he wouldn't let me go once it started falling. God, what kind of friend am I?_

"Ben?" Abi's voice broke through his thoughts as she looked over at him again, more concerned than before, "I know you're worried, we both are, really. But if we don't know where to go to get to him, all we're going to be able to do is worry. You really need to keep looking."

She was right, and he knew it, he was just having a difficult time pulling himself from his thoughts and keeping his mind on what really mattered. A deep intake of air and he started repeating to himself over and over that he just needed to keep searching, and so search he did, for the exact suggestion she had given him.

With determination, he started reading everything he could. Everything from school report cards to birth certificates popped up. Ben really was feeling dirty now, be he couldn't let his friend remain in the danger the historian knew he was in. With one more click on a curious looking link that read 'Margaret and Jonathan Poole' and he was right where he wanted to be – which was probably the most upsetting place of all.

"Oh, man... Abigail." He was staring at the computer screen with regretful eyes, "I think I found it."

* * *

"Hold on, Shaw, turn in here." Ian tapped his friend on the shoulder and pointed toward a hotel that looked familiar to the one they had been seeing in the tape their idiot accomplice had been watching Riley walk into earlier, "Time for a little investigating." he grinned and informed the other man to stay in the car as he went in to pull his magic from his little non-existent hat.

He strode in with a smile on his face as the sun was rising behind him, greeting the very tired looking girl behind the counter with a cheery, "Hello." She only nodded at him and started typing away.

"What can I help you with?"

"I'm looking for a friend of mine, and I needed to know if he was here." He leaned his arm against the counter and gave her the friendliest look he could muster – he'd gotten used to those sort of tricks when he had to get what he needed while he was chasing Ben for the Templar Treasure.

"Name?"

"Riley Poole."

He noticed the girl look a little more alert then, just what he wanted to see, even if he could have predicted her next words, "Um. Never heard of him."

"Are you sure? He told me he'd be staying here." He was trying his damnedest.

"Yes, sir. I'm positive." She wasn't half bad at lying herself, if she had only caught herself in the beginning, "Besides, we can't give out names of our guests unless we have a list of people they want finding them."

"So, was he here to give a list?" He was losing his patience.

"No, sir. I told you, I've never heard of him before."

And this is where he pulled out his fall back trick, reaching into his back pocket for the weapon, per say, that worked most of the time, "I'd like to believe you, miss, and I didn't want to scare you or anything, but this is a matter of great importance." And with that he revealed what he had been hiding.

Much to her relief, it was only a badge. She looked at it closely, a little confused by the situation, before looking up into his eyes, "You're a cop?" Dumb question to ask someone holding a badge right in front of her face.

"Yes, and this is a federal investigation. I need to know if Riley Poole stayed in this building at any point recently, and when he left if he did."

Even with this new information, she was still reluctant to give this man what it was he needed. She remembered this Riley fellow, and he seemed to be scared out of his wits as he was leaving only an hour after he came, but she wasn't about to challenge the word of an officer and so she started typing away to find the record of this one Mr. Poole.

"Anything?" Ian piped up, smirking when he realized he had made the girl jump.

"...Yes... sir." she spoke slowly, shaking her head as she read off the information, "He was here not too long ago, but left almost as quickly as he came in. He's been gone for three hours now."

"Perfect. Thank you, ma'am. That was all I needed to know. Not so hard, was it?" He gave a smile and pushed something onto the counter, which she didn't pay attention to until she had left. When she looked down she saw a one-hundred dollar bill sitting there. A gift for her cooperation? But something felt very wrong about the matter. What sort of cop gave money for someone giving them needed information?

She studied the bill for a moment, tilting her head to the side, and then picked up the phone.

* * *

Five hours later and Riley was really becoming tired. There had been a high adrenaline rush right after he sped away from the crash of whoever it was who happened to be following him, and the cups of coffee (which had, during his attempt at getting away, splashed all over the place several different times) had helped for a while, anyway, but there was very little energy left in him as he leaned heavily against the steering wheel. He was hardly even halfway there yet.

He was half tempted just to pull over into a random parking lot somewhere and fall asleep for a few hours, but Ben's warning rang up through his ears and he knew that was the most unsafe thing going as of yet, and so with an unhelpful slap to the face and opening the window for a few seconds to let the freezing air in he at least gave himself ten more minutes of wide-eyed awareness. And then he saw the most beautiful sign he ever could have passed, smiling as he pulled off the highway toward it.

"A little bed and breakfast inn." There was a community of them, it seemed to be a sort of vacation spot for some. The most perfect place Riley could think of to stay safe, if even just for a few hours.


	6. Breakfast and Bed

**Rating:** Still nothing high.

**Disclaimer: **Do not own. I'm getting boring with these.

**A/N: ** Okay, so this one isn't the most exciting in the world, but the plot has changed just slightly. Enough, anyway? And this one is LONG. The longest yet, at least. Next chapter, FILLED WITH ACTION... or, adventure. Whichever. SCOUT'S HONOR. And yes, I used to be one.

* * *

Riley was more than ready to curl up into one of the beds at any one of the Bed and Breakfast Inns, but there were several precautions he was sure to take first. With those out of the way after just a few minutes, though, he was happy to be in the warmth of a cozy little cottage looking home. His nose was red with how cold he felt, but he was certain the tiredness did nothing for that. 

"I need a room." He was more than aware the sun had just risen as he set his ID down for the girl behind the counter to look at, and he knew 'breakfast and bed' was a little backward, but he intended to take whatever he could get. Hell, if they'd let him sleep in the basement on the floor he'd be more than happy, though he imagined a place like that didn't exactly have a basement, "Kind of desperate." He gave a smile to the girl.

He had been trying to ignore what the girl looked like in the hotel he had been in earlier that morning when sleep hadn't even been an option, but there was no denying that this girl was beautiful. He had to keep from staring, because he had paid enough attention to the sign at the front of the building that informed him this was a family owned bed and breakfast, which probably meant this gorgeous young woman's father was probably lingering somewhere nearby.

"How long are you going to be staying?" Her eyes were rather captivating, and she blushed when she became aware of his staring into them, "Um, sir?" she smirked, snapping her fingers in front of his face. He looked like death warmed over, and then thrown into a lake to freeze him there.

"Huh? Oh!" _Oh, god. That wasn't embarrassing at all._ He looked around just to make sure his fears weren't coming true and that he wasn't about to get grabbed up by the collar and tossed out into the cold again or anything, "Um, how long...? Right! Just for... today. I won't even need it for a night, I just... really need sleep." He had to lean heavily against the counter this girl was sitting behind to even keep himself up while standing in one place.

"Alright, let me just... see what I can do." She had no computer to type on, just a pad a paper that seemed to be filled with names. She went to writing, checking and marking things off, which only put Riley into more of a daze until she finally looked up at him again, her red hair seeming to catch more of his attention than anything else, "Okay, I think you should be good to go." She turned around to grab a key, trying to put aside how much he really did seem to stare at her, and once she retrieved the correct tool handed it to him, "There you are."

It took him a few moments to respond. He had been staring, yes, but his thoughts were someplace else. She had to jingle the keys in front of him before he snapped out of it with an, "Oh! Geeze, I'm sorry." he was clearly bashful with their encounter, but he gratefully took the keys from her and gave a smile, "I won't be any trouble, I promise. Just, um... don't let anyone know I'm here."

This only made the woman wonder why he would possibly give such a request, but she nodded before watching him walk away. He looked more than worn out, clothes stained with what she wasn't even sure (they had been coffee stains from his splashy run in with the SUV), eyes heavy with exhaustion and dark circles under his eyes. She usually put little to know investment in her feelings toward guests at the inn, but something about this one seemed to tug at her heartstrings and within moments of him disappearing up the stairs she was scooting from her seat, telling her older brother to take over at the front desk, "I'll be back a little later." She informed him as she stepped into the back of the inn, the area her family occupied.

Within moments she was returning and skipping up the stairs with a pair of clothes her brother own – he hadn't worn them in what seemed like forever to her, so she doubted he'd miss them. When she knocked on Riley's door she was actually surprised he opened it, the look on his face showing he was just as surprised that she was standing there, "Sorry to disturb you, but you kind of looked like you could use these, Mr. Poole." she made certain to give him a wide smile to, hopefully, make him feel a little better.

And it did. He was glad for the hospitality, it felt something much more like home to him, "Thank you. You didn't have to do that." Really, she didn't. Especially since he was having more difficult a time than ever keeping from staring at her with that smile on her face. He took the clothes from her and nodded as he set them down on the chair by the door, "You can call me Riley, by the way. Formalities have never been my forte."

"Riley..." she smiled even more, "I'm Samantha. Um. Do you mind if I ask you a question?" she was probably walking on thin ice just asking that question alone, but her curiosity had always gotten the best of her when she was younger, her parents would have said.

"You just did." he smirked, but nodded once more, "Go ahead." he was trying so hard to hold back a yawn.

"You said you didn't want anyone to know you were here. And... no offense, but you don't look so great. You're not..." She stopped herself. Did she _really_ want to find this information out? Apparently so, "... in trouble with the law or anything, are you?"

He had to take a moment to let the question register as he craned his neck, brow furrowed at how odd her wondering seemed. Did she care, or did she have plans to kick him out if he said yes? Didn't much matter, since he wasn't, and he shook his head, "No. Just... kind of trying to get away from a lot of things. And some of those things are pretty persistent in finding me." As strange as it seemed, he was enjoying having a conversation with a human being that truly seemed to care, even if he didn't know her last name and had met her not but fifteen minutes before.

"Ah, I see. Can I ask anot--"

"Sure." He cut her off, milking the conversation for all it was worth. He was usually fairly intuitive when it came to trusting people, and he felt nothing bad about the vibe he was getting from this girl. He held up a finger, though, and looked out into the hallway, "Would you or I be murdered if we talked more in the room? I'm not exactly... comfortable airing all my not-so-dirty laundry in a place with a bunch of strangers."

Her eyebrow rose and she looked to both sides, watching as a few people every now and then left their rooms, some also stepping upstairs to get back into their rooms, and then turned back to Riley with a quizzical expression, "But I'm a stranger."

"You're Samantha." he said brightly, daringly taking her by the hand and leading her into the room. She didn't protest, and he needed the company almost as much as he needed the sleep. He could put off rest for a while longer, or so he hoped.

* * *

Ben and Abigail had switched seats, he was driving again now that he knew exactly where it was he was headed. He had studied his findings carefully before becoming more determined than ever to take the lead and get them there as fast as possible. 

Abigail was looking at the pages Ben had discovered now, even after hours of having found it still being shocked by what was on them.

_Margaret and Johnathan Poole, loving parents. She was a computer technician, he was a system analyst. Tragedy took them too soon. Both killed in vehicular manslaughter in Portland, Oregon on December 19th, 1987. Survived by one son: Riley Poole, 9._

Well, their jobs explained a lot about Riley, even if he didn't know them passed the age of nine. But that was only the beginning of it, neither Ben nor Abigail were really able to wrap their minds around what their young friend had been through in his life – and they hadn't even known.

_Riley Poole, the lone remaining Poole who was to inherit a great fortune when he turned 18 after his parents' death, has gone missing today after the loss of his adopted parents. After several different placements in foster care, Poole was adopted by Elizabeth and Matthew Hanks, though he didn't change his name to such. He was 12 at the time of the adoption and the family grew quite close, until another tragedy struck young Riley, now 17, and Elizabeth and Matthew were killed in a robbery at their home. Riley was not home at the time, and his whereabouts are now unknown._

Abigail kept reading, realizing Riley had since been in touch with the bank that held his inheritance. Even with all his complaining about how much money they had chosen to accept after the Templar treasure, what he had done with the money he was meant to have when he was younger amazed her.

_Riley Poole, after reappearing for only a short time in the city he grew up in, returned only long enough to give all his inheritance to various different charities around the city and state. Only keeping enough to get himself through the college of his choosing (information he did not wish to release), he left again only days after showing up. It has been only a year since we saw him last, but he seems just a shadow of the Riley Poole we once knew. Still, it was good to know he was alive and well. May God be with you, Riley._

The news articles seemed to follow his entire life story, from the moment they realized he was a part of the Knight's Templar treasure discovery, even the City of Gold. He was famous there, whether he knew it or not. The question arising to Ben and Abi then, however, was how the city would handle his return.

* * *

"So, who are you running from?" Samantha's question surprised him. He had already halfway zoned out, but the words snapped him back to reality faster than he would have liked. 

He had to laugh, though. Had he even said he was running? Maybe he was, there was no telling. He just had to get away. _Shit, that's what running means._ "Well... I wasn't. At first. Or I thought I wasn't." his forehead wrinkled with confusion as he looked up at the ceiling, trying to work out his words for himself when he looked over at the giggling redhead that was sitting in a chair next to his bed, "So glad you're entertained." he was smirking as he spoke, to let her know he meant nothing bad from his words.

"Really, Riley. You said what you were trying to get away from was persistent in finding you. That... can really only mean a person, unless I guess you mean a memory." She stopped talking when she saw him wince at the mention of a memory. Had she said something wrong? But immediately after, his features seemed to soften and she let out a relieved breath, "Just, I mean. If there's any way I can help."

"Yeah, if anyone breaks in here asking for me, pull out a gun and shoot him." He was joking again. At least to Samantha he was. Secretly, to himself, he honestly wished that were a possibility, "Just... if anyone comes looking for me, wake me up. Immediately." He was more sullen now, something that actually alarmed Samantha.

"You're serious, aren't you?" The question came out slowly as her concern started to show in her eyes, and he nodded, "I promise, then. No one is going to get to you."

He felt protected. That was strange to him. He never really needed it in the past, he had managed just fine on his own. But this time, he knew he needed something to fall back on. He needed that sense of security, if only long enough for him to relax and get some sleep.

They talked a while longer before he actually managed to get any rest. The subject of why he was running was avoided in his skilled manner of changing topics, and he switched the conversation to her to get to know her better. He didn't want to admit it, even if he was probably showing it much more than he liked, but he was falling for her in some way. That was even more weird than feeling protected to him, because Riley Poole didn't fall for anyone. Or maybe it was the other way around, because he had had quite a few childish crushes on quite a few people in the past. So maybe things were how they should be, the beautiful girl just giggling at him and thinking he was adorable, but nothing more.

Or maybe not.

* * *

Ian was now behind the wheel after swearing at Shaw about being a wimp when it came to being tired, but he let his friend sleep in the passenger's seat as he sped down the highway. He knew he wasn't very far behind Riley, chances are he was speeding more than the young treasure hunter had been, he just had to pay close attention to each car he passed to make sure Riley wasn't occupying one of them. 

"Come on, Poole. You can't keep away from me forever." he was bound and determined to catch up, knowing he was on the right path. "Where are you?" It was a highway, for crying out loud. It's not like there were any places to hide, unless he had sudden capabilities of changing his vehicle. Ian looked over at Shaw, who was nearly drooling as his mouth hung open and his head leaned against the window, and then it hit him.

"He_is_ going to get tired." He had the thought before, but now it was much more prominent. There was no way Riley had gotten any sleep when he tore out of the hotel like he did, so now he was probably ready to fall out somewhere – or he already had. Ian was paying extra close attention not to the cars now, but to the road signs that explained what was at the nearing exits. This might just have been his chance.

But a while passed and he was seeing nothing that popped out at him, most just being restaurants and gas stations. Ian knew Riley wasn't going to opt for a hotel again, the tech geek was smarter than that. And then, nearly as relieved to see the sign as Riley had been, Ian saw the exit for all the bed and breakfast inns and knew just where he should be looking.

"Got you." he whispered to himself, a smirk twisting his lips in a notoriously devious way as he pulled into the parking area for the... it had to have been at least fifteen different bed and breakfasts. But which was Riley in? It took a few minutes longer, but Ian finally spotted Riley's car in front of the furthest one away, a little family inn (though there had been several of those), "Uh oh," his voice came out sarcastically, "Little Riley Poole is about to run out of luck."

He awoke Shaw with a slap to the arm and nodded toward the beat up rental car they were now parked beside. They both grinned at one another and got out of the vehicle.

"And so it begins." Ian Howe was about to get his way.


	7. No Way Out

**Disclaimer:** Not mine.

**Rating:** Take a shot. Um... pun not intended.**  
**

**A/N:** Okay, so I got ambitious and wrote another one. Don't expect that to happen very often. OH! And next week at work is pretty much like this week, very VERY few hours so I'll have plenty of time to write if I have the incentive.

This is NOT A POINT OF VIEW CHAPTER. It's just going to jump back and forth between a couple of the characters so much that I figured it would be less confusing if I pointed out _who_ it was those parts of the story were focused on. Enjoy!

* * *

_Ian_

He had been waiting for this. Since before he even left prison, the chance to be able to grab the sarcastic, rambling little Poole had been on his mind. It was the perfect way to get Ben back, and at the same time get Riley. The techy had always gotten on Ian's nerves, but he was well aware of the kid's usefulness so he never complained too much. But now, now that he was only steps away from where Riley was staying and he planned to revel in every moment of it.

He was already getting used to walking up to counters and pretending to be someone he wasn't, so with another cavalier smile he nodded at the woman behind the counter, "I'm looking for a friend, and I was hoping you could help me."

"Sure! What's his name?" The girl had a very cheery disposition, eager to help and happy to please – a sickening but somewhat grateful thought to Ian.

"Riley Poole. He's probably asked not to be disturbed, but this is urgent. Family matters and all." Spreading his lips a little further apart, he used the situation to his best advantage and waited patiently for the woman to finish looking in her log book.

"Sorry, sir. We don't have a Riley Poole staying here." She looked sincere, but he had already learned not to trust those expressions. Riley was trying to cover his tracks and he simply wasn't doing a very good job.

Plan B was now in motion, and with a sigh Ian reached into his back pocket. He had no intentions of playing cop this time, though. He jumped straight to intimidation and pulled out his pistol, "Are you_sure_ about that?"

And that's when all hell seemed to break loose.

* * *

_Riley_

There was a commotion downstairs. He could hear people making more noise than seemed to be normal, but he was too tired to make himself care. It felt like he had only just gotten to sleep, his head heavy even though it was resting on the pillows. There was a lot of noise outside, too. Maybe it was a celebration they had here? He didn't care, he just wanted to fall back into his dreams.

But then a knock came at his door, a beating it almost seemed, before he heard someone using a key to get in. The adrenaline suddenly rushed to his head and he was sitting up in bed with a start, eyes wide and fearful. Something wasn't right.

"Riley!" He heard a woman yell. Samantha? "Riley, get up, NOW." Why did she sound so worried?

He shot out of bed and ran to the door, opening for her since she seemed too frantic to get the extra key she had to work, "What's going on?" He realized then that the commotion he had heard were screams, everyone running in every direction. Some were running into their rooms and locking the doors, others were rushing out with suitcases, leaving in a rush that made absolutely no sense to him.

"Riley, he's here. That... person. Whoever you're trying to get away from, he's _here_."

He could have sworn his heart stopped. Ian, already? "In the building?"

"No." And then his heart started up again, at least a little relief to the suddenly tense situation, "He stopped in another inn first, but you weren't in it."

Riley smirked, he was suddenly very proud of himself. His preparation had paid off, "I parked way away from this one, just in case." he chuckled.

"Well it doesn't matter, he's making his way over here. Eventually, anyway. He's going from one in to the other, you have to leave." She was scared, for him and herself. If this person knew anything of her helping Riley she wasn't sure what was going to happen, "He has a gun, Riley."

"Tell me something I don't know." He turned to look at the digital clock on the nightstand. He _had_ only just managed to fall asleep. And hour and a half before, "Oh, well. No rest for the weary." He ran over to the window to look outside, heart sinking at all the people running away from the direction Riley knew Ian must have been in. It was his fault these people were so terrified. He shouldn't have stopped driving.

A thought came to him then, something he hadn't taken into account previously, "How am I going to get out of here? I mean, even if I walk out the front door... there's no way in hell I can get back to my car."

Samantha's already heavy frowned seemed to get impossibly lower and she wrinkled her forehead in dismay, shaking her head as she tried desperately to figure something out for this young man. She had already become attached to him, after discussing why it was Riley was hiding they had gone on to more personal things. He was interesting, funny, he knew how to make her laugh. But he was still a stranger to her, yet she cared. A lot.

"Come on." She ran into the room and grabbed his hand, and he grabbed his laptop bag as he was pulled out, "I have an idea."

* * *

_Ian_

He had already made it through three different bed and breakfasts. There were so many people screaming, he was almost amused. He had instructed Shaw to stand by Riley's car, so if Poole suddenly appeared somewhere and tried to escape they would know. He had to work quickly, though. There were still too many places to look through, and the police had undoubtedly been called by that point.

"I think it would REALLY be in your best interest to show yourself, Mr. Poole." He was grinning. Was that right? It probably freaked everyone out that much more, something he probably got too much joy from, "You wouldn't want anyone else to get hurt, now would you?" He didn't care about damages he might've caused, no locked door was going to stop him. He'd done it in the other three buildings, so once again he started kicking in doors to see who happened to be behind them.

Door number one, no Riley. Just a couple holding each other in some terrified manner on the bed, "As you were." with his gun in his hand he did a bit of a salute, and the woman screamed, only to grab onto her partner harder.

Door number two was vacant, frustrating Ian that much more. He looked in the closet, just to be sure, but still there was nothing, "RI-LEY." He started calling out in a tone that seemed to become more maniacal by the moment.

Door number three was an elderly couple and Ian shook his head, "Sorry about that." Even in his times of causing chaos, he had something of a heart for scaring people who he didn't feel deserved it – this was quickly forgotten, however, when Ian's phone started vibrating. He looked down at it with curiosity.

**LOOK OUTSIDE** was the text Shaw had just sent him, and Ian ran to the window at the end of the upstairs hallway. Shaw was out there, pointing to the right, and Ian happily looked over to see Riley following closely behind a woman who was pulling him along.

"Jackpot."

* * *

_Riley_

"Where are we going?" He was trying his best to be quiet, almost wanting to whisper but there was no way he was going to be heard over how many people were still screaming. They were crouched down a bit, ducking behind a car in front of the inn they had just walked out of, "This has to be something near suicide." That was the second time in twenty-four hours, he remembered, that he had that thought.

Samantha peeked over the car they were behind, shaking her head as she watched numerous people run out of a B&B only four doors down. That must have been where this person Riley feared was at that moment. But there was one strange thing about the group in front of the building. One person, a man with a shaved head, was just standing there, yelling up at the window. Something about that felt very off to her, and after a few moments more she realized what it was. He must have been one of the people Riley was trying to get away from.

"Come on."

"Come on WHERE? Might help to clue in the person who's actually trying to hide here!" He felt exposed every time they weren't hiding behind something, like he could be seen at any moment. And he knew the chances were high that he could be. But he was beginning to feel even more like a follower now than when he was hanging around Ben, and that frustrated him, "Samantha!" he jerked his hand back finally, tired of being pulled around without answers.

"Riley, you really don't have time for this."

"Just tell me what you're thinking and maybe I'll play your little game, but I've gone through too much cat and mouse already to be completely clueless. How do I know you're not just going to toss me out there for Ian to get me?" He crossed his arms where he stood, noticing all too quickly that they were standing out in the open. He looked around for cover then and ducked behind another car, looking up to see if he could see Ian.

He didn't, at that moment anyway, but someone else did catch his eye, "...Shaw? How the hell is he alive?" his eyes were wide when he noticed Shaw was looking in his direction, "Crap." He ducked even further down, below the windows of the vehicle and turned back toward the direction Samantha was – except she wasn't. Where had she gone? Great, his only real getaway plan had run off because he was being stubborn.

He had to get to his car. It was all the way across the parking area, at least five hundred feet away... and three hundred of those feet were on the other side of where Shaw was standing. He was stuck and he knew it. "Should have called Ben." He hated saying the words, but he knew just how true it was. If only he could get to the freaking car!

There was only one real option he had. Maybe, with all the people scattering around like they were, he could go unseen. He looked around for a few seconds, long enough to realize... that plan wasn't going to work. No one on his side of Shaw was running to the _other_ side of Shaw. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe he was meant to actually get caught.

With a deep breath, he stood. It was better to calm these people down anyway. And as he looked up, he knew his heart was at least skipping beats at that point. There was no way they couldn't be as he made eye contact with the man who had just walked out of the bed and breakfast Shaw was yelling into before. Ian had spotted him.

* * *

_Ian_

"There's our little friend." If he wasn't grinning before, the spread of his lips was sure leaving evidence toward that fact now, "It's about bloody time." He made no fast movements. No one was going to bother him, and Riley seemed to be frozen in his place with the way he was just staring at Ian, mouth hanging open.

Shaw, after watching Riley in wonder, leaned over to Ian, "Why's he not running?"

"What does it matter?" Ian rolled his eyes, "If he's not going anywhere, it means we can catch him." There was always a stupid one in every bunch. They were closing in on him now, though he seemed to be coming out of his daze. Riley was looking around almost desperately, and it amused Ian that much more. There was nowhere for him to go. No doubt they had him.

* * *

_Riley_

_Crap, crap, crap. _"This can't be happening." He was thinking and talking to himself almost at the same time, suddenly not wanting so much to fall into Ian's trap and get caught. He didn't _really_ feel like being tortured or killed or... whatever might have come from Ian's thoughts. Undoubtedly it would have been hell, and Riley just wasn't in the mood for that now.

"RILEY!" A yell from the side caught his attention and he turned his head to see Samantha standing there, a sight he had never been more relieved to see. "CATCH."

He didn't have time to ask questions as he suddenly had keys tossed at him and he looked at her with heavy question in his eyes. She motioned for him to follow her through the bed and breakfast again, and even though it didn't seem like the best getaway plan to go back_inside_, she seemed to be a smart enough girl and he ran after her as she managed to maneuver her way around the ever frantic people inside.

Now what was he getting himself into, though?

* * *

_Ian_

"Where's the little twerp going!?" Shaw was the first to vocalize the fact that Riley was suddenly running again, causing Ian to emit a frustrated groan as he started picking up his own pace.

"Come on!" He held his gun up to ensure the fastest path through the crowd, since they'd be parting ways for him to get through. Halfway through the building he was running with the expectedness that everyone was going to move, so he was surprised when he suddenly ran into a group of large men who were standing still, "What the hell are you doing!?" he gestured at the men in the hallway and pointed his gun at them. It took them a moment but they ended up moving, and back to chasing he went.

* * *

_Riley_

He looked back fast enough to see Ian run into the group of guys in the hallway before he was suddenly outside again, having taken a back door into the grassy area behind Samantha's family's inn, "What are those guys doing? He has a gun!" There never would have been living down the guilt if someone else got hurt because of him.

"Family friends. Difficult guys to scare and we needed to give you a little more time." She stopped and reached back to grab his hand and pull him a long faster, "Sorry I'm not telling you what's going on, there's just really no time anymore."

"I think I'll survive." He gladly followed her to a small group of cars behind the house and it dawned on him why he had keys in his hand now, "I'm not going to have the cops after me for stealing a car, am I?" He looked down at the key chain and noticed her name on it, letting out a quick sigh. Even if he had just met her, this girl was amazing.

"No, I promise. Just bring it back in as close to one piece as you can. And promise me you'll drive as fast as possible." She squeezed his hand and opened the door to her car for him, motioning for him to hide. She looked behind her, glad to be hidden at least a little from view of the inn by a few tall bushes, "Now get in. You have to go."

"Going." he started toward the car, but stopped right beside Samantha with an apologetic look in his eyes, "I'm really sorry about all this." With just another moment passed he wrapped his arms around her in a hug – there was no time for the honest romanticisms he had in his mind, "Thank you. Now you, you..." he looked back in the direction of the house as he got into the car, "Have got to hide. Don't let them see you."

She nodded, "Speed, Riley." and without another word she was stepping into the nearby bushes, crouching down low to be sure she wasn't seen.

He was satisfied with this, knowing his driving away would be enough to distract them from her. If he made it out of this, he started telling himself, he was going to come back here. Not just to return the car, either. With that last thought he started the engine and backed out as quickly as possible.

* * *

_Ian_

By the time they made it outside, they had lost sight of Riley, "He couldn't have possibly gotten that far." He stopped to look around, immediately looking in the direction of the sound of a starting car. He heard screeching tires and suddenly it sped out from behind the bushes. It took no genius to figure out Riley was behind the wheel, "THERE, Shaw, get our car!" With a flash Shaw was gone.

In a last ditch effort to make some mark on the situation, Ian stepped out behind the vehicle that just then passed him and began shooting. The back window shattered – so much for bringing it back in something near one piece – and he thought he heard what might have been a scream coming from inside the car as it veered to the right and then back to the left to regain control.

"Bullseye." Even if it didn't stop the kid, it was going to hinder him, and with this Ian was satisfied.

* * *

ANOTHER A/N!: That's it for Samantha for now. She might return later on, but for now she was just his little savior. REVIEW. 


	8. Airport

**Rating:** Looooooow.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine!

**A/N: **Very boring chapter, a filler mostly because he can't jump from halfway there to THERE suddenly, because there's a huge distance between where he left and where he's going that... just wouldn't make sense if he magically appeared an hour later. NEXT CHAPTER TO BE MUCH MORE INTERESTING and, chances are, up at like 4am or something because I'm probably about to start writing it.

* * *

Ben woke with a start, nearly screaming as he sat up in the leaned back passenger's seat he had fallen asleep in. Abigail had taken over as driver once again to let him get some sleep, because it really looked like he needed it, but his dreams weren't on his side on this trip. He was becoming more and more uneasy with every passing moment, and those nightmares had been the last he could stand.

"Abi, find the nearest airport." he was slightly breathless as he made the demand, adding, "Please" on for good measure.

"What? Why?" This had surprised her almost as much as his awakening that way did.

"We have to get there faster, and there's no way we're going to be able to catch up like this." He was gripping the door handle, his fingers turning white with the force of it.

"Is everything okay, Ben?"

"Abigail, Riley is being followed – God, possibly _tortured_ by now – by someone we put in jail for what was supposed to be a really long time three years ago. I think 'okay' is sort of out the window." He wasn't meaning to be so rude, and she understood he was under a lot of stress, but even after the words came out of his mouth he felt bad about them, "I'm sorry." He sighed.

"It's okay, sweetheart, just..." she exhaled quickly and looked from him to the road and back again in a few quick moments, "Try to calm down a little? We're doing the best we can here."

"I don't think that's going to be good enough. Not if Riley gets hurt. This is all my fault, Abigail. I should have known better."

"Better than what? I mean, yes, we could have been there for him more, but it was his choice to run off like that. And there was no way we could have known Ian was going to be on his tail like this." she reached over and placed a hand on his knee, giving it a little squeeze, "Everything is going to be fine. Riley's a strong guy, he can take care of himself. It's why he ran off, remember?"

The smile she was giving him helped a little. It reminded him of exactly why he loved her so much, and he was in that moment more relieved than ever to have her along, "Yeah. Yeah, he's going to be okay." Ben was going to have to repeat that to himself over and over until he had proof of the matter, but for now it was all he had to hold on to, and so hold on he did, "But still, could we find an --"

"Airport, got it."

* * *

"We almost _had him_, Shaw." Ian was visibly angry – nothing really new – but his was breathing heavily through his nose, lips pursed together when he wasn't talking, and it was feared that he'd reach over and punch his driving friend without any warning at any moment, "Why the hell didn't you go after him when you had the chance?"

"You told me to stay by that car!" Shaw was getting defensive, if only to not get himself murdered in the next few moments, "I didn't want to get yelled at for leaving there and going after him. If he had gotten away--"

"HE DID GET AWAY." Ian yelled, but calmed himself down immediately after, "Doesn't matter. That kid can't stand up to much, we'll probably find him on the side of the road sometime soon just because of my shooting him. Just drive faster. There's no way he's that far ahead."

"We've been driving for hours, you'd think we'd find a bloke with a busted back window by now if we were going to." Shaw was mumbling to himself, but that didn't mean Ian couldn't hear him and suddenly there was a gun at his head. He sighed, knowing there was no real threat even with the weapon at his temple, "Just saying. I'm not stopping." He put more pressure on the acceleration pedal, as much as he could, and continued to weave in and out of the flow of traffic.

"Come on, Poole." Ian kept looking out the window, searching ahead for anything that resembled the car Riley was now in, "You know you don't want to hide forever.

* * *

Exhaustion and pain had never been his best feelings. It was usually when he'd start rambling, complaining about this, that and the other. He'd had such little sleep, even if the nap back at the bed and breakfast had seemed to help it was such a long time ago at that point it didn't matter now. He'd sped away fast enough that he felt maybe, _just_ maybe he put some distance between him and Ian.

But then the pain was added on top of it. A part of him expected it to happen, but when he heard the gun go off the first thought in his mind was, to him, the most terrible. He was afraid they had found Samantha. If he were to tell anyone, he'd be honest and say he was more glad than anything – at FIRST – when he heard the back window of the car shatter and suddenly a searing pain in his right shoulder.

Now that 'at first' was out of the way, however, he wasn't so positive. He still wouldn't have wished any harm to Samantha or anyone else in that little community – he knew when he went back to return the car, if he made it that long, that he'd probably be the most unwelcome person in the history of... well, however long that place had been around. But now there was pain, and a lot of it.

"Think of something besides that, come on Riley..." He was one to always talk out loud when he really needed to concentrate, and right then he was concentrating on that fact that he couldn't move his arm without screaming... and it was cold in the car with the back window gone. The odds were all against him as he sped down the highway, and he knew this, "I don't think I've ever wanted to see Ben so badly."

He was beginning to lose the little bit of hope he had left. It was then that another sign seemed to lighten his load, just a little.

**Portland 107 miles**

"Thank god." At least there he could be certain he'd be safe for a while.


	9. Keep Your Friends Close

**Rating:** K+ for swearing, probably. Too tired to REALLY care at the moment. The next chapter will most likely be T for violence and it'll carry on with that from there. But I don't know, we'll see.

**A/N: ** I've given up on the disclaimer stuff. If they want to sue me they can, but I still don't own any of it. Samantha is the only thing I could really lay claim to, and um... woo hoo? Anyway, a little humor to start us off with this chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Only a few hours had passed and Ben and Abigail were glad to get off the plane in Portland. Their first stop was, of course, baggage claim.

"I think mine is lost." Ben was watching as bag after bag passed by his vision, owners of the bags stepping up and squeezing through the group that had formed in front of the turnstile. But he couldn't find his in the ever growing group of luggage and he was becoming frustrated.

"I'm sure it's in there somewhere, just give it a minute." Abi, already having her suitcase securely strapped over her arm, reached over and squeezed his shoulder.

"Abigail, I've seen that orange case go by three times already. I think I'd be able to pick mine out after three rounds."

"Are you sure it's even gone around once." She, of course, really hadn't been paying that much attention since she had her things.

He had opened his mouth to respond, but as her words started repeating in his mind he had to stop and look over at her with utter question in his eyes, "...It's an orange suitcase, I think I'd notice."

"Oh..." she figured now would probably be a good time to help him search, "Well, let's see then..." she started watching the bags as they passed, losing focus for a moment when Ben's phone rang.

He pulled it from its pocket holster to see who might have been calling him, eyes widening when he noticed the number, "It's Riley." he held up a finger as Abi's eyes joined in looking as much like white saucers as his, and stepped away so he had a little more privacy from the crowd, "Riley? Is that really you? Where are you? Please tell me you're in Portland--"

"_You ask almost as many questions as I do when I'm bored."_ The voice that came across the phone had never been a more welcomed sound, but Ben noticed something was very off about his tone.

He took a moment before he spoke again, as not to sound _too_ worried – Abi sort of worried, "Is everything alright?"

"_How did you know I'd be in Portland?"_ Riley was always one to avoid the subject at hand. Ben shook his head at his friend, the concern in his mind rising – it had to have been somewhat serious if Riley was keeping from answering.

"Just a little investigating. Riley..." he paused again, only then realizing there were far too many additions he wanted to tack on as his next words, "I'm sorry." That seemed to sum it up well enough.

"_Not now, Ben."_ This wasn't the same Riley that Ben was used to. He didn't sound anywhere near cheerful, he sounded worn. Like he could crack at any moment. And that worried him most of all.

"Are you alright?" His voice was more demanding with the question this time because he was getting desperate for an answer.

"_I think I had a better time when I thought I was going to be left behind on the Topsy-Turvy Table of Doom."_ Words Ben never wanted to hear, both because of the reminder that he was actually going to leave his best friend behind on that thing, and because it meant he really wasn't doing so well. He thought on that too long, apparently, because Riley spoke again, more words Ben was afraid of but at the same time happy to hear, _"Need your help, Gates."_

He had to smirk at the use of his last name by Riley. He only ever did that if he wanted to lighten the mood, and it always worked, "Just tell me where you are, we'll come get you."

* * *

"Peninsula Park." He responded, head down as he sat on a bench, "There's... there's a big fountain, in the middle of a... garden sort of area. Look for me around there." He would have been better with his explanation had he not been so damn tired, "Listen, Ben. Hurry, okay? Please."

"_Fast as lightning."_ and then the line was disconnected as the older man hung up.

Riley sighed. He was really having a hard time staying awake, but he didn't want to risk falling asleep. He was too paranoid, too protective – too scared. He never would have admitted that to anyone, but he was terrified. He'd already been through so much, and now he was having to cover his bloody arm with his jacket as not to draw unneeded attention to himself, sure to keep his arm bent even if it hurt. He was thankful for the cold weather.

Everything seemed to hurt as he rested his head in his hands. Maybe a tiny bit of sleep wouldn't hurt anything. He was good at falling asleep while sitting up, though it was obvious this situation was different. He all of a sudden felt wetness on his hands and lifted his head to look at them, only to realize he had been crying. He didn't even know he could cry without knowing it, but it made sense to him in a way. He needed to get it out somehow, and if he couldn't scream he'd much rather cry. Not very manly, but he had never been seen as the type.

If only he had been paying attention to the people around him as much as he was focusing on how he felt, he would have noticed someone watching him from the other side of the fountain.

* * *

"I thought you wanted to look for your luggage!" Abigail was running after Ben now, out of the airport and into the street to get the attention of a taxi, "What did Riley say? Is he alright?"

"It's not what he said, it's how he was saying it." He wasn't looking at his girlfriend as he started raising his hand and waving to get the attention of any little yellow car driver, "We have to find him, Abigail. He's no well."

"So he ran away from us, all this way..."

"Just to call us for help, yeah. It doesn't make sense but I don't think he really intended for this to happen." his voice was filled with sarcasm and relief both as a cab driver pulled up to them and he quickly opened the door, letting her in first – she'd slap him otherwise – and then jumping in behind, "Peninsula park, as fast as you possibly can."

* * *

He hadn't actually fallen asleep but it felt, to Riley, like he had been sitting in one place for hours without relief. Ben wasn't there yet, the pain understandably wasn't going away, and he was still scared for his life even in a public place like where he was. He could hear voices and footsteps all around him, too, but he looked up when he heard an unusually close pair of footsteps and suddenly a hand on his shoulder.

"Took you long enough, B--" he cut off his own sentence as he looked up at the person standing before him, his heart sinking, "Oh, Ian. What a nice surprise. And here I thought my luck was as bad as it was going to get." he always had a crack to make in the bad times.

"So sorry to disappoint you, my dear Riley. But I couldn't let _mine_ get worse, you see." with those last words he pulled the younger man up by his collar, surprising a yelp out of him by the sudden and painful movement, "We're in such a nice place now, you see. I thought we could go for a walk."

"Any lakes nearby you care to throw me in to? I'm sure we could find something around here to weigh me down." He just didn't care anymore. He knew he was out of luck, out of hope. After all the times he had managed to evade torture and death before now, his time was up, he was sure of it.

"Oh no, no. I had something a little... slower, in mind." The grin on Ian's face sent a shiver down Riley's spine. Slower than drowning? In some sadistic way, he was looking forward to seeing what his enemy might come up with.

"I thought I lost you right after you shot me, you bastard." That earned him a slap across the face with no concern as to who was watching.

"Funny thing, that. We were lucky enough to catch up with you a few miles before this..." he gestured with the hand not filled with Riley's shirt, waving around the city that was visible, taking a deep breath in a way to pretend he really gave a damn, "...marvelous place came into view."

"Oh, lucky me." Riley was pulled along by his right arm, having to bite down hard and wince so he wouldn't scream and attract more people's attention – as much as he was sure they would probably offer assistance, he knew Ian had a gun and an idiot lackey no more than twenty feet behind with the same weapon, and he didn't want to risk any more lives.

"I'm surprised at you, really. I thought you would have given up sooner than this." Ian mused, patting Riley on the shoulder and grinning even further at the sound of his whimpering.

"Well," he started speaking through gritted teeth, "considering I didn't know why you wanted a date with me so badly, I thought it best to keep my distance." He was filled with nothing but flat humor and the desperate need to pass out by this point.

"Oh, but didn't your mom ever tell you?" Ian knew good and well that word would get to Riley, and he loved every moment of watching the horror run across his 'friend's' face as they headed toward the entrance to the park, "Keep your friends close..." and with his next words he pulled Riley close enough to whisper in his ear, "...and your enemies closer."


	10. And Your Enemies Closer

**Rating:** I'm not even sure THIS could constitute as a T rating, but for the safety I'm going to say it is.

**A/N:** Since there have been several questions about whether this is going to turn into a Riley/OC story, at the moment it isn't. It's sort of... setting things up for one, but it would be a sequel to this. And to anyone I have confused as far as the timeline goes, I'm sorry. There's... not really any explaining it logically in my mind right now. Most of these chapters have been written while I was tired but determined to get them out. I apologize.

* * *

Upon making it to the park Riley had named, Ben and Abigail quickly got out of the taxi with a wad of bills thrown at the driver – somewhere around the right price, anyway – and ran to where their friend had told them he'd be, "Almost there. Things will be alright after this." They ran in the other side of the park from where Ian had been taking the techie and found the fountain with little trouble.

"Ben..." Abigail piped up, out of breath from their rushed jog, "Ben, he's not here!" She looked around wildly. He said he'd be around that area, maybe not right at the fountain, so there was still hope, wasn't there? But still, after her searching she saw nothing.

Ben could only stare. He had gotten so close. They were _almost there_, but what happened? Had Riley decided he didn't want help anymore? That would have been a quick decision. Something, as usual, didn't feel right about the situation and he started looking around, but not for the same thing Abigail had been, '_Listen, Ben. Hurry.'_ He hadn't so soon forgotten the words from his best friend, and that could have only meant there was some looming danger in the back of Riley's mind... the only possibility being Ian.

"We have to find him." He hoped against all hopes that it wasn't too late, maybe they were still nearby, and as he neared the exit on the other end of the fountain area something on the ground caught his eye, "Abigail, look." he pointed down to see what she thought about the red dots that seemed to make a trail toward the opposite exit in which they came in.

"...is that?" she leaned down and examined closer, rubbing her finger against a splotch on the bricks and barely getting any off, though there was quite a bit around, "This is blood." She looked around again to see if anyone might've been bleeding, or if there was an ambulance somewhere in view because of another injury. They weren't even sure if Riley was hurt, but this was no good sign toward the matter.

"We really, really need to find him."

* * *

He was stumbling. He couldn't seem to make his legs cooperate, no matter how hard he tried. Every time he started going down he was jerked back up again by the strong hold on his jacket, and he had to bite back a scream from the pain with every pull. At least it kept his focus up a little longer every time.

But now his vision was getting blurry. No sleep, not really counting the little bit of rest he had gotten much earlier in that day (evening was coming quickly by this point), and constant pain that he was reminded of every two minutes was beginning to become too unbearable and he knew he wasn't going to last much longer. That either would have worked out to Ian's advantage, or the next time Riley awoke he would be standing on clouds with gold gates in front of him with a man in white asking why the hell he should be let in.

"Because I'm not a bad person." He said aloud, without even realizing he was speaking.

"What?" Ian pulled him close, angry question and intent in his eyes.

"What, what?" Riley looked over at him, confused, "Did I say something?"

"Yes, actually."

"...Oh. Sorry, kind of delusional over here." They had just made it out of the park and he started to look around, every possible way. Forward was the last direction he wanted to focus on. Beside him to the right was Ian, and the street after that. To the left was bushes that separated the park from the sidewalk outside of it. And behind him was the ever amazing Shaw. He had to remember to ask later how the hell that man was alive.

But then something caught his eye as he looked back a second time. A familiar jacket on a familiar looking man, though they were a good ways away that he couldn't make out faces, but the familiar looking blond next to all those other familiar looking things gave it away – but they were going in the wrong direction, looking in the wrong places. There was little hope now, and only one stupid thing Riley could thing of to do.

"BEN!" He mustered up enough voice to actually manage yelling at the top of his lungs, which startled Ian into stopping dead in his tracks and looking behind them. Other people had noticed the screaming as well and Riley was satisfied with the fact that there were too many people around and paying attention for Ian to murder him yet.

Ben and Abigail started running in that direction and Ian huffed out a breath, "Bad move, Poole."

The only thought that ran through Riley's mind as he watched Ian raise the butt of his gun up and swing toward his chest was, "This is going to hurt." And it did.

* * *

He didn't have time to stop and think about it, but the absolute yank at his heart when he saw Riley fall to the ground, clutching his chest, was the worst thing he had felt in a long time. His feet picked up the pace, Abigail not far behind by any means. The motivation to get to Riley was growing with every second.

And they were almost there, until Ben felt an arm stop him and suddenly he couldn't move. He hadn't even been paying attention to see if Ian might have had someone there with him, but when he looked up to see who had stopped him he had never been more surprised, "Shaw?" This was not the time for a dead guy to be getting in the way.

"Nice to see you too, Gates!" And suddenly there was a gun at Ben's side, covered by Shaw's jacket so the other people already aware of the situation weren't even more alarmed.

"How exactly are you still alive?" Abigail was whispering her question as she too looked up at the man.

"A lot of motivation..." he leaned down toward Ben with an menacing smile and an evil tone in his voice, "And a year in the hospital. All so I could come back and see my favorite people." He patted Ben on the cheek.

Only then did Ben realize that Shaw wasn't holding Abigail, and he gestured with his eyes that she back away. She followed his lead immediately with a nod, Shaw not paying the least bit of attention to her as she went into a grassy area and started investigating fallen branches from the trees around.

Ben looked back over toward Riley and Ian with an apologetic look in his eyes, though Riley was definitely not looking back as he was curled over on the ground. This had apparently been the perfect moment for Ian to take further action in making Ben furious, because with wide eyes Ben watched as Ian began kicking the already too injured man, "IAN. STOP."

This alerted Abigail enough that she came running with her newfound weapon, striking Shaw in the chest just long enough for his grasp on Ben to loosen so the history buff could run toward Ian.

"STOP, IAN." Within moments Ben was jumping into the air and tackling Ian to the ground to get him away from Riley, knowing Ian had a gun but not caring about the fact. He just wanted to stop Riley's pain, "I swear to god, Howe, if you touch him one more time..." Ben had one hand holding Ian down, the other in a fist ready to strike if he needed to.

Ian only started laughing, looking over at the younger man who still lay on the ground holding his stomach now, "I think I've done enough damage, don't you?"

Riley didn't respond, though he was visibly still conscious with how he was moving. He opened his eyes long enough to look up at Ian with a vehement glare, only stopping when he started coughing. Getting on his hands and knees, he coughed as hard as he could manage, ignoring the severe pain in pretty much every part of his body. After spitting out the crud that remained he looked at the ground, groaning when he saw he had spat out blood.

This distracted Ben long enough for Ian to get his bearings and suddenly Ben was the one on the ground, though Ian didn't stay on top of him for long. His target was still Riley and so he grabbed him up by the collar yet again, earning another yell, "Thought you were going to get off easy?" He had the gun pointed at the younger man's head, grinning down at Ben as he stood with a glare in his eyes, "You tried, Gates. You really did. But obviously that just wasn't en--"

His enthrallment with torturing Riley and Ben at the same time with just words had given Riley enough time to gain the courage to elbow Ian hard in the gut, though since it was his right arm he used it hurt him more, he imagined, but Ian keeled over in shock and let Riley go.

"RUN, Riley!" Ben demanded and off Riley went. It was amazing what motivation could do for an injured man's speed, because he was off in the distance only moments afterward, "Now for you..." Ben walked over to Ian, but his former friend only pointed the gun up at him instead.

"Nothing for me, thanks." Ian sneered as he stood again, but just as soon as he had the gun to Ben's chest he had a gun in his back, as well. He looked behind him to see Abigail standing there, holding the gun Shaw had let go of when he fell to the ground after her blow, "What's this? Little Abigail Chase coming to the rescue?"

"We're going to give you the chance to get out of here." Her breathing was heavy simply from anger as she held fast to holding the gun to Ian's back, "You're just going to go _that_ way." With a gesture in the opposite direction in which Riley had run, she looked up at Ian intently, "It's a win/win situation here where you won't end up in jail again and we can go help our friend."

"Oh, but it might be too late for that." His snarky words caused her to push the gun further into his back and she knew then that she wasn't playing around, "Alright, alright!" He started walking forward and she followed for a few steps just to be certain. Ben had stepped out of the way the moment Ian's attention was on Abigail, so nothing was in his way as he started toward Shaw to get them both out of there.

Ben and Abi stood in place, continuing to watch and make sure Ian was doing as he had been ordered. When they were finally satisfied they turned around in hopes of finding Riley standing somewhere nearby, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen and they began worrying again.

"How could we have lost him again?" Abigail looked up at Ben with a frown.

"He had to get away." his voice seemed distant as he looked around for a few long moments, then down at the ground where Riley had spit up blood.

"Where would he go, though?" She didn't really know Riley as well as Ben, not nearly, so she didn't even have the beginnings of an idea.

He didn't say anything for a few seconds, contemplating the thoughts running through his mind. He knew it was the only logical answer, "We have to find out where his parents were buried."

"Which ones?" The question actually made sense to both of them, but Ben knew which ones.

Taking her hand before answering the question, he started toward a nearby taxi. "Biological. Come on."


	11. So Cold

**Rating:** T for descriptions and despair, pretty much.

**A/N:** Sorry for the super short chapter, but it's the only thing that really worked. It felt weird jumping to a different scene after writing this, so here you go. We're nearing the end, folks! Only a couple more chapters left, I think. And yes, the last paragraph of this is supposed to be entirely italicized.

* * *

He was so cold. He was sweating, he knew because he had reached up to his face and felt the wetness, but he was freezing. And so distant. He wanted to forget everything, but it was all right there with him in that cemetery, screaming at him. He was hurting, physically and emotionally. Every inch of him seemed to hurt, but he was having a hard time sitting there in front of his parents' gravestone as well. His shoulder was throbbing, his breathing labored even still because of the kicks to his stomach, and his chest felt like it had had a knife stuck in it. He didn't even have to look to know he was bruised all over. 

His hope was draining. As he sat there shivering to something near death, he wanted to give in. He'd made it to where he wanted to be, seen what... who, he had wanted to see. He was happy just knowing he accomplished his goals. He was back home, by all accounts of the word, with the people he wished could be his family again even though they had been taken away. Ben and Abigail, they were great people, but they didn't need him around. He was in their way too often, they needed time to themselves – except, he'd given them time to themselves, and they still came running after him. They protected him at a time when he convinced himself he didn't need protecting. They were there for him in a bigger way than anyone else had been. They cared.

He felt warmer, if only for a moment, thinking about that. About them. He was beginning to understand that he did actually have a family in them, that maybe he shouldn't give up on that idea just yet. But he couldn't stop shaking. At least he wasn't hurting anymore, but that was probably not a good sign. He couldn't feel anything but something that resembled numbness. He was still cold, there was no becoming numb to that. And as his vision became blurry, eyes seeming to cross, he tried his hardest to focus on his parents' names in front of him, on the flowers at their grave someone else had recently laid.

"It hurts." He spoke barely above a whisper, of the emotional pain of them being gone -- because even if he had great people in Ben and Abi, the loss of his parents had always been too much, "So cold." those words were a whisper as he started shaking more, unable to even move from where he was sitting. He couldn't stand, he didn't even want to bother looking around. Maybe it was just his time. He'd done some good, he'd helped people out – maybe that was all he was needed for. He hoped, as his vision went from blurriness to darkness, that Ben and Abigail wouldn't cry too much when he was gone. He hated making people cry.

_He heard a voice then, something far off in the distance. There were a few words, but the only thing he could easily make out was his name, "I'm coming..." he tried to say, but his voice was rough and quiet. He suddenly felt like he was floating effortlessly and he smiled at that, "Don't leave without me..." His voice was even more hushed than before, and the voice he had heard was getting further away. Within moments, everything was silent._


	12. Never Leave You

**Rating:** Yeah, I don't know. Does it MATTER by this point?

**A/N:** Another short chapter for the sake of the next one, and because it's another "it just doesn't feel right to have anything more than this" kind of thing. One more chapter, I think? Then maybe an epilogue, but we'll have to see how the next chapter goes ;) No, not even I'm sure. That makes no sense, I'm sure, but if you knew me it probably would.

* * *

It was a terrifying rush as Ben ran through the streets after be dropped off as close to the cemetery as possible. His heart was racing not from the running, but from the worry building up in his chest of what might have happened to Riley while they were taking care of getting Ian out of the way. It hadn't been very long, the time they were apart, but it had been enough and the boy was clearly not in good shape. He could see a sign for the graveyard and picked up his pace, Abigail following as closely behind as she could manage.

When they stepped passed the gates their hearts sank equally. It was huge. There were so many places to look, too many, and the grave markers were all rather large and on any other day they'd probably say it was beautiful. But for the both of them they were all just huge obstacles standing in their way.

"Oh, god." Abigail stopped and took a step back in despair. She hated the idea of giving up, but the task of finding their friend suddenly seemed impossibly large.

"You go check the mausoleum." Ben pointed to the only visible building inside the gated area and watched as she nodded and ran in that direction. They didn't have much time and had to cover as much ground as possible, "RILEY." He started to yell, cupping his hands around his mouth to make his voice better heard.

No response. This couldn't be happening.

"RI-LEY." He chopped the word up as he shouted louder, hoping for any sort of tiny response. Hell, a groan would have sufficed, but again the only reply he received was a cool wind that nearly made his blood run cold.

As he ran through the rows of gravestones he just kept thinking about how his best friend was around somewhere, hurting in god knew how many ways, probably freezing. And he was alone. That one thing by itself twisted Ben's heart around in the most painful of ways, "How could I do this to him?"

_You ran him off, Ben. Good one. After all he'd done for you, you pushed him away and got him into this mess. If it weren't for you, Ian wouldn't have found him. Ian wouldn't have gone AFTER him. He's been there for you, he's saved your life... he's never left you behind – until now._

_Until now. He actually left you behind. How messed up is that? I've always been leading him around, and he's the one who left _me_ behind. Didn't think that could suck so much. But I still should have been there faster. I could have been. I should have cared more. I should have read his dumb book._

_Not dumb. It helped us find the City of Gold. No way that's dumb, even if I had to kidnap the President. That might have been dumb, but it worked. He did a great job with that. He tried so hard. I don't give him enough credit. He's right. I'd have convinced him of things a lot faster than what it took for me to believe him. Why does he have so much faith in me? Why don't I trust him enough?_

_Too many ques--_

Ben's thoughts were cut off by something catching his attention in the corner of his eye as he ran passed a particularly large, angelic looking, statuesque grave marker – how fitting.

"Riley?" His voice surprised him for a moment, but he started squinting his eyes to see who the person might have been. The figure he saw in the distance, about one-hundred feet away but straight ahead of him, was sitting, almost slumping, in front of a grave. He couldn't tell, but Ben was pretty sure they were shaking. Hard, "Riley!" He started moving again, jogging toward this nameless person, "RILEY!" He knew now, it was him, and he was falling to the ground.

Even if it might not have been far for him to fall, Ben made sure to get there and reach out fast enough so Riley didn't actually hit the ground, "Riley..." he breathlessly murmured as he held his friend in his arms.

There was bloody everywhere. Ben could see a large bloody stain on the young man's shirt, even from under his jacket and it made him grimace. His face was turning all sorts of colors from bruises he had received who knows where, and Ben didn't even want to imagine what his stomach must have looked like.

"Why did he do this to you?" Ben had undetected tears in his eyes which were falling down his cheeks, onto Riley's jacket, "How could I let him?" He felt hopeless looking down at the person he was supposed to protect and be there for, the lifelessness of him and his pale complexion. He felt like he had failed his best friend in the worst of ways, he couldn't even keep him safe.

"Don't leave without me..." the words Riley spoke startled Ben, as he hadn't thought Riley was even awake, but he didn't say a thing because it was clear that just seconds after he had fallen into complete unconsciousness.

Ben looked behind him. He could see Abigail running up with her cell phone to her ear. She must have been calling for an ambulance. He looked back down at his best friend and just leaned down so his forehead was against the younger man's. Riley was burning up, sweat soaking the tips of his shaggy hair even in the cold winter air. With a hitched, shaky breath Ben started to cry freely, hoping it wouldn't be long before honest help arrived. He wouldn't be able to handle it if Riley slipped away while in his arms.

"I'm never leaving you again."


	13. Back and Forth

**A/N: **Over 20,000 (okay maybe not a lot) words and 100 comments, you guys have NO IDEA how much that means to me! Especially since this is only the 13th chapter. Not that there are more, but that's not a lot of chapters!

Kind of long, and probably a little boring, but I hope you enjoy this!

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Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and fo--

"Ben, sit down." His pacing was stopped abruptly by Abigail's voice and he looked over at her, knowing his nervousness couldn't have been helping her own. Just by the sight of her it was obvious she was scared, legs folded up with her in the chair, knees to chest and arms curled in between the two to where he couldn't see them. Concern and fear were written all across her face, as well.

"Sorry." He murmured as he finally made a move again, to sit down next to her. He rested a hand on her knee and jumped when she so quickly placed her hand on his. But it was the closest thing either of them had to comfort in the situation, since the hospital chairs which were meant for such a thing gave no ease at all. He shifted at the thought and looked around the room – it wasn't a bad looking place, actually sort of warm and inviting, but even so it was a place he didn't want to be. There was nothing about that building he wanted to be a part of.

"He's going to be alright." She was staring far off into the distance, at nothing in the room Ben made a note. Her eyes weren't focused on anything, "He has to be."

-----Back in the Cemetery-----

"_Ben!" He looked behind him, tears still streaking down his cheeks as Abigail finally made it to where he was clinging to Riley, "The ambulance is on... it's... way." her words came out slower in the end when she looked down, her eyes widening nearly twice their size. She looked about how Ben felt – terrified, "Oh my god, Riley..." she knelt down immediately, seeming to go into hyper-mode to try and help their friend, "He's bleeding. We have to stop the bleeding."_

_She wasn't even giving herself time to assess the situation. It was probably normal for her to be the one to take care of everyone else around her, to play mother, to be the protector. Ben thought that was going to be his job, but the moment he saw his best friend lying there in his arms, he fell into shock. And he was simply staring at her now in amazement as she took Riley's jacket off with a carefulness Ben wasn't even sure should have been possible with how quickly she managed it, and then took her own sweater off to use as a cloth for pressure against the wound – Ben was going to have to make a note to buy her another one sometime soon, because he never wanted to see her in this one again even if she had it cleaned._

"_Sit him up a little." She ordered with that same sort of gentleness in her voice that she had to have used to rid Riley of his jacket, "We need to make sure the wound is raised above his heart, even if just a little." He did as he was told and just looked up to the heavens, closing his eyes to hope against everything that maybe, just maybe her fast thinking would help in some way._

_-----_Present Moment-----

She hadn't given herself time to cry, but she was doing it now. As her face started to contort into the obvious expression of sadness, she buried her head in her knees and pretended she was just resting. To see their friend in that way became too much to handle and all she could think now was they should have been there faster... she was starting to think the same way as Ben.

"Come here." There was no fooling him as he reached over and pulled her against him, even if it meant they were both a little more uncomfortable with the bar of the chair arms between them. They'd survive. He kissed the top of her head, running his fingers through the blond strands as he took a deep breath, reminding himself of her scent, even if it was barely there. He was so glad she was with him, he would have gone insane otherwise – and Riley probably wouldn't have held on until the ambulance arrived.

They had followed in the car Riley drove, the one with the keyring which the name 'Samantha' was attached to. It looked to be in terrible shape when they found it to follow the paramedics in, and they knew it was probably because of who was driving it – not because of his driving, either (though they both knew he wasn't the greatest) – but because of who had been following him. Ben was gathering a large list of things to remind himself of later, to ask who 'Samantha' was being added to it. But what if there was no later? What if he didn't have the chance?

"He_is_ going to be alright." Ben comforted his girlfriend softly, rubbing her back in a way to comfort himself as well, "He's strong, that's what he came out here to prove. He'll pull through this."

Now only if he could convince himself.

* * *

A phone rang, interrupting their sleep with a jump once he realized they had dozed off. It was an annoying noise, winning an aggravated groan from him until he realized something else – he recognized the ring, and it was no hospital phone he was hearing.

It was_his_ phone.

He fumbled around for a moment, looking over at Abigail who was still off in dream land somehow – or maybe just back in it. Being careful not to disturb her too much, he shifted and stood to pull his phone from his pocket and answered in a rush.

"Hello?" He tried, with little success, to be nice to whoever was calling him at such a time.

"Benjamin?" the voice came across the line and confused him. He wasn't sure who he had expected, maybe his mom or dad to ask how Riley was since he had left them a message to inform them of what was going on, but in his tired state a different person besides either of those just didn't make sense.

"Sadusky?" It took him a minute to respond, a laugh on the other line reassuring him of his guess being correct, "What's going on, have they caught Ian or something?" Now he knew he was hoping just a little too hard.

"No, Ben." Those words would have disappointed him, had he not been expecting them, "But we received an anonymous tip yesterday that someone fitting Ian's description to a tee was posing as an officer, in search of Riley."

Ben wasn't sure why he should care about this. It was in the past, obviously before Ian had even caught up to Riley completely. Why should it matter to him now, with his friend in the hospital?

"Okay..." He still sounded very clearly out of it and rubbed his eyes to try awakening himself more.

"If this is true, Ben, he's getting smarter. More resourceful." The Agent did have a point there, which started the wheels turning in Ben's head, "You're really going to need to be careful out there. If he can make a hotel clerk believe he's a federal officer, there's no telling what else he may try and pull."

"Dammit." Was Ben's immediate response. He wasn't about to stand by and let anyone else near Riley or Abigail, not now and definitely not any time soon. With a sigh, he spoke again, "Thank you, Sadusky."

"How's Riley?" Oh, even more confusion came along with that unexpected question. But it was Sadusky Ben was talking to, the man had probably heard almost immediately what was going on after Riley made it into the hospital.

"Don't know yet, the doctor hasn't come back out to see us." This worried Ben once he put it all together and he looked down at his watch – five hours. Had it really been that long since they ran through those doors and hopelessly watched as the doctors hurried Riley into the emergency room?

"Well, let me know when you figure anything out. He's a brave ki--"

"Not a kid." Ben cut him off at the pass, correcting him for a second time.

"Right. Well, he's brave. Keep in touch." And with that there was a click on the other line, letting Ben know the conversation was over. He took a few steps back after shoving his phone into his pocket again and sat down slowly, inhaling slowly before letting the air out in a rush.

So much for going back to sleep.

* * *

A couple more hours gone, filled with watching television, reading crappy magazines, smiling at sleeping Abigail and going to get coffee once they were both awake and now they were just sitting with impatience, wondering if they were even on the correct floor to be reached by someone about Riley.

"I can't take this." Ben finally stood and almost fell right back over, as his left leg was half asleep, but he maintained balance and awkwardly walked over to the nurses desk with determination. Abigail didn't even try to stop him, "Excuse me." the African-American woman behind the counter looked up from behind her glasses and raised her eyebrows, "Is there anything you can tell me about the condition of my friend? We've been waiting here for hours and I'm getting worried." He attempted to be as charming as possible, putting on his best and most sincere smile, but that all faded when he noticed a doctor walking toward the waiting room. Before the nurse could even open her mouth to respond it seemed Ben was back next to Abigail.

"Doctor." Abigail stood and extended her hand to the man, who looked as exhausted as any of them. He nodded and shook her hand, as well as Ben's, "What can you tell us?"

The older gentleman sighed, rubbing his eyes to rid them of the tiredness that lay there, "Well," he started, shaking his head as he looked around quickly before stepping back to grab a chair and pull it close, "Your friend, Mr. Poole, was it?" Both Ben and Abigail nodded at the same time, "We had a difficult time with him, as I'm sure you can tell by the extensive amount of time we were back there."

Ben noticed after those words that the doctor was covered in blood, and he suddenly felt sick. He was hoping it wasn't Riley's, but there was a feeling in his gut that told him otherwise. But he couldn't focus on that, he needed to hear what the man was saying.

"There was a lot of internal bleeding, not to mention a punctured lung because of a couple of broken ribs." He hadn't even mentioned the gunshot wound yet and Ben felt like he was going to cry again. He had to maintain composure, he was a man, Riley would have teased him if he saw Ben shedding tears over him, but it was becoming more and more difficult – he needed good news, "The bullet wasn't too difficult to remove from his shoulder, but there was a lot of bleeding from that as well."

"How is he?" The words were almost across his lips before he could register them in his mind, but Ben needed to no. There could be no more waiting, he was on a need to know basis of his friend's health. If the words 'didn't make it' were a part of the doctor's next few sentences, he swore he was going to have a heart attack just to grab Riley by the wings and drag him back down to earth.

"Well, now," the man seemed hesitant, but caring. He understood the concern lying behind their eyes, and that at least brought some tiny bit of comfort, "It took a bit of time, but we managed to stop the bleeding internally, anyway, and we repaired the lung." Ben could feel a 'but' coming on, "But," damn, "it's a little touch and go at the moment. He's stable, but that doesn't mean he's out of the woods. He's going to be in the hospital for a while yet so we can watch him and give him whatever care he needs."

Ben and Abigail were nodding at the same time again, because they understood the urgency of such a thing, "Can we see him?" Abigail spoke the question before Ben could even fully think it.

"They're moving him into a room now. We'll let you know when everything is set up. Are the two of you going to be staying the night?" Again, they both nodded, this time much faster than either moment before, "Alright, we'll make sure to pull an extra cot into the room." They thanked the man as he stood and went on his way, but before he was completely out of sight he was sure to add on, "Your friend is going to be alright, guys."

'Touch and go' may not have been the best of situations, and seven hours of waiting may have been agonizing, but to hear those words from that man's mouth made every bit of it worth it. So they'd be staying with him in a hospital for a while, and he'd complain once he was awake and pain-free enough to do so. It didn't matter in the slightest.

Riley was going to be alright.

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**One more A/N:** Alright, so I'll be honest, I don't know whether this is the last chapter or the next one is. There will either be one more chapter, or it'll be the epilogue, I just have to see what works out best. And I know this left a lot of things hanging open, but that's because there IS going to be a sequel! Don't worry, I'm not going to leave a lot of cracks out in the open, eventually it'll all come to a close. But for now, enjoy the Riley-aliveness. And thank you for reading so far! 


	14. Family

**A/N:** Last chapter! Well, the epilogue will follow this, but this is the last ACTUAL chapter. It's... not so great. I'm sorry it took so long, I sort of lost inspiration and thought process for a while, but I think I'm good now. It PROBABLY doesn't answer all the wanted questions, I finally became too frustrated with it all sitting in my word processor for however many days straight so tonight I just threw it all together in what seemed like a decent finish and, well, finished it. But it at least gives a TINY bit of closure -- and I repeat, there WILL be a sequel, so the open ends will be closed when that one is finished. For now, thank you for all your lovely reviews (which I hope keep coming) and enjoy!

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Darkness. That was probably the typical thing to notice first after death, wasn't it? Of course there wouldn't be a white light to go toward, that would just be too easy. Darkness and warmth. He must have been steering toward hell, but he had to have been a long way off because it was a more comfortable warmth instead of an unbearable heat. But he was pretty sure hell didn't smell like flowers.

Or have people holding your hand.

Or... beeping?

And then there was the pain. If he was dead, he was pretty certain he shouldn't have been feeling any more pain, except for maybe the burning pit of fire that most say comes along with hell. After thinking about it, he decided he would have opted for burning, but instead he got to feel the joys of ribs screaming at him for reasons unknown to him, and his shoulder throbbing in the worst sort of way – like he had been... shot.

He groaned, and the hand covering his flinched, causing him to move his hand to grip onto whoever's was holding him, "Mmm..." that was probably the most boring greeting ever, and he hadn't even opened his eyes.

"Riley?" Abigail. Poor, darling Abigail, sitting there with him until he awoke, "Are you awake?" She sounded, to him, like she was awfully hopeful. How long had she been hoping? It took a small bit of convincing, but he managed to open his eyes wide enough to give a sign of life, at least, "Riley!" her smile looked amazing to see after thoughts of hell ran through is mind.

She let go of his hand, and he almost reached out to grab it but that whole throbbing shoulder detail stopped him and he winced, but didn't make a noise. He didn't want to worry anyone more than they already must have been. Then he looked over to see why she had let go, his heart sinking and yet jumping happily at the sight of Ben sleeping in a nearby chair. They were both there.

"Ben!" Riley watched as Abigail shook her boyfriend awake, apparently startling him by the wild look in his eyes, "It's Riley!"

"Wha...!?" The worst thoughts ran through his mind, until he saw his best friend laying in the hospital bed staring at him with a smile, however weak it was, "Riley..." That was his name, after all.

"Hey there, sleeping beauty..." Riley teased, his voice coming out painfully raspy. He attempted to swallow, that only causing him to wince and there was no hiding it from the others.

"Here." Abigail hurried over to beside the bed and poured water into a little paper cup for the younger man, "This'll help." They must have been prepared for this for a while, the waking and the need of water. Or maybe they had just been warned by all-knowing doctors.

"How are you feeling?" Ben stepped up beside the bed, not looking too grand himself – he had been asleep, but he looked to be in dire need of a real bed to rest in, and quite possibly a shower, "You had us worried."

These seemed like very television sort of questions and responses to Riley, but he'd go along with it, "You know that expression, 'I feel like I've been hit by a truck'?" He looked up at his two friends, who were just smiling and nodding at him with understanding – and then he continued, "That would feel pretty damn good right now." That earned him a laugh and he couldn't help but smile. He'd never been so glad to have those two with him more than right then, especially in a place he wanted to get out of a soon as possible, however _im_possible he knew that would probably be.

"I'm going to go get a doctor." Abigail brushed her hand against Ben's shoulder and he nodded, she leaned in closer to whisper in his ear, "I'll take my time. You need to talk to him." she turned back to Riley and smiled as she left the room, leaving Ben in uneasy silence.

After a moment he took a seat in the chair Abigail had vacated and sighed, running his fingers through his hair, "We weren't sure you were going to make it." What a way to start off the conversation. Too late now, best to run with it. Riley, however, wasn't sure how to respond to those words, so he just kept staring at the older gentleman to see if he'd say anything more, "You really did scare the hell out of me, Sundance."

Sundance... Ben hadn't called him that in years. Since before Abigail came into the picture, and it was mostly only a joking nickname, but it was amazing to hear. Refreshing. "Sorry, Butch." He replied hoarsely, but smiled through it nonetheless, "Didn't really expect to be chased by a psycho maniac." His usual humor wasn't seeming to work by the stern look Ben was giving him. He cleared his throat and wiped the smile from his lips, worried he'd done something seriously wrong.

"I mean it, Riley." Ben scooted closer with the chair, leaning an elbow on the bed, "Even before Ian was a part of this... when I knew you'd left. I just..." he looked behind him to make sure there were no signs of Abigail or hospital staff, and blew out a long breath, "It terrified me, that you could just pack up and leave that way without giving us any word."

"I didn't think anyone would care." Riley started messing around with a little hand held button, curious what it might have been he gave it a push – and suddenly there was relief to the pain. Ah, the happy button. He'd have to kiss the grave of whoever discovered morphine.

Ben looked up into Riley's eyes and shook his head, "Why? Because we lost touch for a couple of weeks?"

Apparently he still didn't understand, "It wasn't that, Ben. Well," Riley had to correct himself, in a small way, "it wasn't that entirely, anyway. Not nearly."

He understood, he just didn't know how to go about bringing it up. The segue into the conversation was now sitting there for him, just waiting for him to find the perfect words. He stayed silent for a few minutes.

"I haven't really been good enough to you, have I?" He thought back on all the times, during their adventures and even during every day moments, where he hadn't given his best friend enough credit toward the things he would say or do, "I mean, I ask you to do so much and you do – sometimes you do things without me even having to ask. If I said jump..."

"I'd say you first." Riley grinned and this time Ben followed suit, leaving Riley leeway to let out a small laugh, "Ben, it's alright." It wasn't, but his cover had always been that, to pretend, and pretend he would.

"Riley..."

"Benjamin..." The younger man was determined to defy the older, though Ben's next words were about to trap him.

"I want you to be completely honest with me." Ben leaned his other elbow onto the bed, speaking as quietly as possible – this was a more personal time for the both of them, something he felt they probably both needed. He hadn't been a very good friend, so this seemed a good way to start, "Why was it you left?"

Riley couldn't think of any good, immediate response. Ben had asked him to be honest, so there was no getting out of it now. For how smart he usually pretended to be, he was stuck then because Ben deserved the request he had asked for, even if he had already guessed it and Riley joked his way away from it.

"Ben, please don't--"

"This is going to come up now or later. Abigail won't be back for a while, we have time to clear the air." He couldn't stand even the slightest strain on their friendship, he needed Riley to be around – he needed his brother.

The younger man laid silent for a few minutes, hoping maybe Abigail wouldn't actually be gone as long as Ben apparently expected her to be. But there were no signs of her, so he finally gave in, "It's just..." the drawn out pause between his words seemed to raise Ben's curiosity, because when Riley looked over at him his eyebrows were raised in question. Riley sighed, "There's been so much going on lately. You and Abigail are so much more involved than you used to be, recognition has been flying around from both the treasures like mad – with YOUR name plastered all over the place." He hadn't meant to sound so upset about that fact, but he would have been lying if he were to pretend it didn't bother him in a small way.

"Riley--" Ben was interrupted by his best friend holding up a finger in a gesture of silence.

"If you want me to be honest, you need to let me say everything at one time." Ben held up his hands in a 'go ahead' sort of way, and Riley nodded, "Your parents are back together and around you more, you have friends all over the place, I... don't. I don't have any of that. I mean," he paused again, swallowing back the painfully familiar feeling of tears rising in his throat, "Yeah, I have you guys, but it wasn't the same. Sitting back, watching my best friend's_actual_ family laughing and happy, knowing I didn't technically have that sort of thing – and then keeping to myself for a couple of weeks with... no sort of notice. It made me wonder if I was really needed anymore. And I mean, why was I even needed in the first place? To do your geek work? Thanks for saving me from that shitty cubical, but really. If that's all you wanted me for, don't pretend to want me around now." He took a deep breath, finally coming to a close on the things he wanted to get out, "I don't know," his voice was smaller, more childlike than when he had been speaking just seconds before, "It just made me miss where I came from, the things around here. Maybe it wasn't the happiest of times, but with a little effort I knew I'd have something more like family."

Had he really just said that? Did Ben really just listen to this man he'd known for longer years than he'd been working in any cubical, ask him if he was only needed for the technical things? Ben thought Riley should have at least known _that much_ by this point. His eyes were wide, and he didn't realize it until Riley started furrowing his brow with worry in his eyes. He shook his head to clear it before trying to come up with words.

"Riley, honestly..." he realized then he felt a little insulted that his best friend could assume such things as he had, but the boy was drugged and depressed, to some extent, so Ben decided not to be too hard on him, "Things have just been insane lately. My parents... that's a huge thing. Unexpected and all, we're all really just getting to know each other again. But that's not really an excuse, because I've always wanted you to be included in that." Ben grabbed hold of his best friend's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, looking into his usually bright blue eyes which seemed a little dull now, "Riley, you're my family. You're my _brother_," that word pulled Riley's attention straight to Ben's face, and so with a deep breath he went on, "I've been using you, I realize that now. You've never deserved it, but I thank you for putting up with me being the ungrateful bastard I can apparently be."

"You have been kind of thankless." Riley chuckled, Ben just shaking his head in amusement.

"I'm learning, and I'm not going to keep doing it. There will be times I'll need reminding, but neither of us are perfect." As if Riley needed that reminder, he seemed to think far less of himself than he needed to, "But I swear to you, Riley Poole, you're always going to have someone in me. If you need a friend, a shoulder, a punching bag, a place to run to..." he heard the door open, knowing that meant Abigail was back, but he didn't turn his head, "But you're always going to have family with us, especially me."

"Me too." Abigail smiled, walking over to the other side of the bed to place her hand on Riley's uninjured shoulder, "We want you to be able to come to us when you feel lonely. We're not trying to push you away, we never meant that. I'm so sorry." She was just then understanding how much all of this was her fault just as much as Ben's, though he had had a larger part in it.

So much for keeping those tears back, they were streaming down Riley's cheeks like mini waterfalls and he knew there was no stopping them. He wanted to push them away, keep them back, keep himself from getting hurt again – except he knew he wouldn't be, and he knew they weren't going anywhere. How could they? They had traveled across the country for him, they weren't going anywhere, "I don't know what I'd do without you guys." After speaking the words, he actually thought about it, and without them – he'd either be dead or trapped in a cubical, still. He shuddered at both ideas.

"The doctor will be in in a minute." Abigail made the passing mention as she ran her fingers through Riley's messed up hair in her motherly way.

"We good now?" Ben had let go of Riley's hand to put his up in a low-five manner, not wanting to make Riley move his shoulder much.

"We're great." Riley accepted the gesture, lifting his hand enough to slap his hand again Ben's and he grinned. Nothing felt better than having his two best friends back with him. He didn't want to think about why he had even left in the first place anymore.

"I just have one more question..."

Riley couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, noticing Ben seemed to be thinking hard about whatever this next question was going to be, "yeah?"

"Who's Samantha?"


End file.
